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THE 



HINCE OF PULPIT ORATORS: 

ft ^ortratiun of 

REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD, M.A., 

ILLUSTRATED BY ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS 

/ 

By Rev. J. B. WAKELEY. 

44 A Prince. 11 44 The eloquent orator. 11 44 Mighty in the Scripture*.* 

"Speech is the body, thought the soul, and suitable action the lips, of 
eloquence. 11 

SECOND EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 
EA TON & MA INS. 

CINCINNATI; 
CURTS & JENNINGS. 




43261 

Copyright, 1871, by CARLTON & LANAHAN. 



Copyright, 1899, by JOSEPHINE R. CULVER. 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 




SECOND COPY, 



LOVERS OF PULPIT ELOQUENCE 

AND 

TO THE ADMIKEES 

OF 

GEOKGE WHITEFIELD, 

THE 

PRINCE OF PULPIT ORATORS, 
% Ijis ^oluntt 

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 
INSCIUBED BY 

J, B. WAKELEY. 



i 



PREFACE. 



" I imagine," says one, " that all those who have 
read my former books will say that I have writ 
enough unless they were better ; but, say what you 
will, itpleaseth me, and, since my delights are harm- 
less, I will satisfy my humorP I have written 
this book because I " took a notion " to do it, be- 
lieving it would do good, and at the suggestion of 
no one ; so if it has defects I alone am to blame. 

The catholic spirit of John Wesley I have ad- 
mired ; for, though he differed widely on theologi- 
cal subjects from Whitefield, he considered him a 
" brother beloved," and gave him the " right hand 
of fellowship." When preaching Mr. Whitefield's 
funeral sermon he spoke of his journals thus : 
" For their artless and unaffected simplicity they 
may vie with any writings of the kind." And he 
further said, " If Mr. Whitefield has left any pa- 
pers of this kind, and his friends count me worthy, 
it will be my glory and joy to methodize, tran- 
scribe, and prepare them for the public view ;" so 



6 Preface. 

I have felt it my " glory and joy " to prepare this 
book " for the public view." 

It is a century since the Prince of Pulpit Ora- 
tors expired, and all his contemporaries both in 
Europe and America have passed away. Of the 
thousands who listened to his matchless eloquence 
not one remains to tell the story. 

The present seemed to me to be an appropriate 
time to give to the memory of Whitefield a kind 
of resurrection, to reproduce him, to bring him out 
in a new and more attractive dress — and here is the 
result. The reader will find it a condensed story 
of Whitefield, the cream of his history, the mar- 
row of his biography, an epitome of his life and 
character, illustrated by striking anecdotes and 
thrilling incidents. His whole history is chival- 
rous and romantic, far surpassing fiction. There 
is nothing like it in the history of the Church or 
the world. It stands alone — without a parallel. 
The reader may inquire, " Is there any thing new 
that is true, or any thing that is true that is new, 
that has not been said many times before concern- 
ing Whitefield ? " Suppose there is not. Do you 
ask, " Why, then, do you repeat the story ?" I an- 
swer, Because it is worthy of repetition every 
day for a thousand years, and the Church and the 
world need it, and will grow the wiser and better 
for it. But let not the reader conclude that we 



Preface. 7 

have nothing in this volume but the same old 
gtory ; for, while there is considerable of the old 
there is also much that is new, the writer having 
had access to rare documents that enrich White- 
field's history; and then it is brought out in an 
entirely new form. 

What great changes have taken place in the 
Church and the world during the hundred years 
which have passed since Whitefield's death ! The 
world has made rapid strides since then ; she has 
made greater progress in the century than during 
the thousand years that preceded it. It will give 
the reader some idea of this progress if memory, 
the faithful historian of the soul, will unroll a few 
of its pages. 

Whitefield died six years before the Declaration 
of Independence, nineteen years prior to the birth 
of the United States, the adoption of our Constitu- 
tion, and the inauguration of George Washington 
as President. 

A hundred years ago there were no railroads, no 
steam-boats, no steam-ships crossing the ocean. 
There was no telegraph, no correspondence by 
lightning, no Atlantic cable uniting the new and 
the old world. 

A hundred years ago many of the sciences were 
unknown. 

A hundred years ago most of this country was 



8 Preface. 

one vast wilderness — all beyond the Alleghanies 
unexplored, inhabited by uncivilized savages ; now 
by civilized men. 

A hundred years ago we were thirteen depend- 
ent colonies of Great Britain, with between two 
and three million inhabitants now one mighty 
ocean-bound Republic, with nearly fifty millions. 

One hundred years ago Philadelphia, New York, 
and Boston were small places, not much larger 
than villages ; now imperial cities. 

One hundred years ago the great missionary so- 
cieties were not born — our own did not come into 
existence till 1819 ; now expending a million a year. 

One hundred years ago there were no Bible so- 
cieties. The British and Foreign Bible Society 
had no existence. The American Bible Society 
was not born till 1816. See how these institu- 
tions multiply Bibles, and scatter them like the 
leaves of autumn. 

A hundred years ago and there were no relig- 
ious newspapers. How numerous they are now ! 

A hundred years ago there were no Sabbath- 
schools or Sabbath-school literature. Look now 
at this great nursery of the Church with its mill- 
ions of Sabbath scholars and its millions of Sab- 
bath-school books. 

A hundred years ago and none of our numerous 
benevolent societies were in existence. 



Preface. g 

We have taken a retrospect of the past : now let 
us look forward. A hundred years to come, and, 
if the writer and the readers of this volume possess 
the spirit and walk in the steps of Whitefield, we 
shall be with him in the New Jerusalem, 

" Where rivers of pleasure flow bright o'er the plains, 
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns." 

For the materials employed in the prepara- 
tion of this volume I am indebted to Whitefield's 
Journals, Whitefield's Life, written by himself; 
" Whitefield's Life and Works," in six volumes, 
by Rev. John Gillies, published in London in IV 72, 
just two years after Mr. Whitefield's death, and 
dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, (I have 
the only copy I have ever seen except one, and 
that is in the library of Harvard University;) 
Philip's " Life and Times of Whitefield," (a maga- 
zine of facts poorly arranged;) "Whitefield's 
Life," by Dr. Joseph Belcher; Newell's "Life of 
Whitefield," and " Lady Huntingdon and her 
Friends," as well as to many old and rare works, 
pamphlets, and newspapers, some of which are al- 
most as scarce as gold-dust. To the librarian of 
Harvard University I am indebted for access to 
old pamphlets that throw light on Whitefield's 
history ; and to Rev. C. J. Durfee, the Pastor of 
the old South Church in ISTewburyport, where Mr. 



10 



Preface, 



Whitefield's remains are sleeping ; and to the late 
Rev. John M'Clintock, D. D., that noble man and 
eloquent minister. He sent me a rare volume from 
England, published in 1757. It is a large book, 
containing vile attacks upon Whitefield and his 
contemporaries, and in it are the plays of Foote — 
"The Minor" and the " Methodist "—the only 
copies I have ever seen. 

Having made these general acknowledgments, I 
now send forth this volume without one anxious 
thought concerning its future, not because I so 
highly value my own work ; but such is the nature 
of the volume, such the character of Whitefield 
and such his matchless eloquence, so eventful was 
his history, abounding with facts so startling, with 
incidents so thrilling, that I have confidence that 
the public will not let it lie upon the shelves of 
the publishing house, but will give it a hearty 
welcome, and aid in its circulation. My former 
volumes, humble and unpretending as they have 
been, have met with great favor from the press 
and the public, for which I am unfeignedly thank- 
ful. J. B. Wakeley. 

Newburgh, N. T., Oct 28, 1870. 



CONTENTS. 



Paob 

Aged Disciples, the 135 

Aged Elm, the 310 

"Bunyan, Bishop " 285 

Biter Bit, the 313 

Boyish Tricks 62 

"Bold, Importunate Beggar," the 157 

Bolingbroke and the Clergyman 200 

Bolingbroke and Whitefield 198 

Bolingbroke' s Brother 199 

Bolingbroke' s Philosophy 200 

Cenotaph, the 398 

Collection and the Bet, the 309 

Contrast, the 113 

Dirtied his Coat for Nothing 327 

Dream, the 65 

Dying Appeal, the, and the Resurrection 323 

Effect of Whitefield's Sermons 113 

Eleventh Hour, the 305 

Ferrymen, the 177 

Field Preaching 93 

First Collection in America for the Orphans Ill 

Foster, Howard, Whitefield 342 

Franklin, and Whitefield's Works 116 

Franklin's Tribute to Whitefield 122 

Going to Hell his own Way 163 

Great Field-Day, the 98 



12 Contents. 

Pagh 

Ignorant Baronet, the 211 

Incidents Connected with Whitefield's First Voyage 10 

America , 84 

Incidents of a Perilous Voyage 89 

Infamous Libel, the, and the Defense 108 

Influence of Whitefield's Works 117 

Inveighing Against the Clergy Without a Cause 155 

Kingswood School 95 

James, Howard, and Whitefield 342 

Lady Elizabeth Hastings 208 

Lady Huntingdon 188 

Lady Huntingdon, the Bishop, and Whitefield.... 190 

Letter from Dr. Franklin to Whitefield 118 

Memorial Services, the 393 

Mimic, the, and the Drinking Club 148 

Miniature Play-actor, the 63 

Ministers Welcome, the 322 

Moorfields 97 

Mother, the, and the Little Girl 301 

Nicodemite Comer, the 202 

No Sects m Heaven 134 

No Sneaking Off 325 

Not a Single Plank 138 

Old Scotch Marquis, the 368 

Orphan House, the *..* 335 

Pamphl eteering 229 

Pentecostal Scenes 130 

Power of Whitefield's Voice 112 

Profane Captain, the 315 

Profitable Visit, the 66 

Queries and Scruples 156 

Eefnsing the Offer 325 

Pepeated Story, the 325 



Contents. 1 3 

Paoh 

Reproof, the 66 

Reproving Look, the 318 

Scurrilous Pamphlet, the 243 

Sergeant, the 298 

Servant, the, his Master, and Whitefield 321 

Separation, the, and the Reconciliation 166 

Shrewd Reply 142 

Sketch of George Whitefield 19 

Sleeper, the 144 

Splendid Retort 146 

Stonehouse, Dr., and Garrick 228 

Striking Difference 334 

Submissive Man, the 302 

Suspension, the 106 

Taking it Coolly 105 

Tit for Tat 107 

Tottenham Court Chapel, the 266 

Vane, the, and the Compass 140 

Wesley's, John, Tribute to Whitefield 175 

Whitefield a Merchant 133 

Whitefield and Andrew Kinsman 279 

Whitefield and Augustus Toplady 182 

Whitefield and Cornelius Winter 299 

Whitefield and Doctor Finley 295 

Whitefield and Dr. Franklin 112 

Whitefield and Dr. Johnson 212 

Whitefield and Dr. Stonehouse 226 

Whitefield and George II 194 

Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent 128 

Whitefield and his Convert 328 

Whitefield and his First Converts 71 

Whitefield and his First Field Pulpit 92 

Whitefield and his Mother 299 

Whitefield and his Relatives 70 

Whitefield and his Wife 152 

Whitefield and his would-be Murderers 178 

Whitefield and Horace Walpole 205 

Whxtefield and Howell Harris 261 



14 Contents. 

Pagb 

Whitefield and Hume 209 

Whitefield and James Hervey 185 

"Whitefield and John Cownley 21G 

Whitefield and John Wesley at Bristol 94 

Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards 274 

Whitefield and Lord Chesterfield 195 

Whitefield and Lord Clare 211 

Whitefield and Lord Dartmouth 203 

Whitefield and Mrs. Edwards 276 

Whitefield and Eev. John Fletcher 284 

Whitefield and Eev. John Pool 219 

Whitefield and Eev. William Grimshaw 220 

Whitefield and Eowland Hill 285 

Whitefield and Thomas Olivers 252 

Whitefield and Thomas Eankin 250 

Whitefield and the Barber 213 

Whitefield and the Bishop of Gloucester 154 

Whitefield and the Catholic Minister 163 

Whitefield and the Chancellor 91 

Whitefield and the Children 102 

Whitefield and the Church-warden 96 

Whitefield and the College Master; or, the Eash Vow 69 

Whitefield and the Comedian 237 

Whitefield and the Comic Actor 288 

Whitefield and the Commissary 104 

Whitefield and the Counselor 318 

Whitefield and the Dancer 341 

Whitefield and the Deist 132 

Whitefield and the Devil 137 

Whitefield and the Devil's Castaways 191 

Whitefield and the Diamond Bing 332 

Whitefield and the Distinguished Beauty 201 

Whitefield and the Doomed Village 139 

Whitefield and the Drummer 123 

Whitefield and the Dying Boy 333 

Whitefield and the Dying Infidel 87 

Whitefield and the Earl of Ferrers 208 

Whitefield and the Estate ; 306 

Whitefield and the Excellent Treatise 67 

Whitefield and the Execution 320 

Whitefield and the Fiddler , 3I6 



Contents. 1 5 

Page 

Whitefield and the Five-pound Note 124 

Whitefield and the Gamblers 164 

Whitefield and the Impudent Man 102 

"Whitefield and the Indian King 88 

"Whitefield and the Indian Preacher 296 

Whitefield and the Infidel 131 

"Whitefield and the Inquiring Woman 142 

Whitefield and the Irish Mob 160 

Whitefield and the Lantern Boy 147 

Whitefield and the Little Boy 341 

Whitefield and the Little Girl 304 

Whitefield and the Log College 127 

Whitefield and the Madman 103 

Whitefield and the Man at a Distance 126 

Whitefield and the Military Captain 270 

Whitefield and the Negro Woman 324 

Whitefield and the Noble Minister 109 

Whitefield and the Philanthropist 125 

Whitefield and the Poor Woman 310 

Whitefield and the Prince of Wales 195 

Whitefield and the Quaker 306 

Whitefield and the Eeporter 330 

Whitefield and the Eev. Samuel Davies 255 

Whitefield and the Scoffer 307 

Whitefield and the Sea-Captain 267 

Whitefield and the Ship-Carpenter 180 

Whitefield and the Story-teller 165 

Whitefield and the Tailor 250 

Whitefield and the Theater-goer 314 

Whitefield and the Tragedian 225 

Whitefield and the Traveler 312 

Whitefield and the Trifiers 319 

Whitefield and the Trifling Young Men 326 

Whitefield and the Trumpeter 141 

Whitefield and the Uncharitable Minister 220 

Whitefield and the Wicked Captain 176 

Whitefield and the Wit 143 

Whitefield and the Wounded Man 164 

Whitefield and the Young Burglar 136 

Whitefield and the Young Lady 124 

Whitefield and the Young Rake 101 



1 6 Contents. 

Pagb 

Whitefield and the Young Sail-maker 383 

Whitefield and William Tennent 129 

Whitefield a Eoman Catholic 317 

Whitefield, Boardman, and Pilmoor ■ 296 

Whitefield, Franklin, and the Collection 114 

Whitefield Franklin's Guest 116 

Whitefield, his Friend, and the Idol 140 

Whitefield, Hopkinson, and the Quaker , . 115 

Whitefield, Lady Chesterfield, and King George U. 198 

Whitefield, Relics of. .' 395 

Whitefield reproved by Tennent 131 

Whitefield, the Ignorant Man, and his Wife 311 

Whitefield, the Sailor, and the Collection 327 

Whitefield, the Wesleys, and Georgia 82 

Whitefield's Anecdotes 376 

Whitefield' s Aphorisms 360 

Whitefield's Attempt at Courtship 148 

Whitefield's Bone 387 

Whitefield's Brother and Lady Huntingdon 193 

Whitefield's Conversion ■ 68 

Whitefield's Converts, Interview with one of 382 

Whitefield's Eloquence, Miscellaneous Examples of 3^8 

Whitefield's Epitaph 334 

Whitefield's Fidelity to Franklin 121 

Whitefield's First Sermon 80 

Whitefield's Honesty 115 

Whitefield's Last Resting-place 396 

Whitefield's last Token of Friendship to the Wesleys 175 

Whitefield's Old Chair 333 

Whitefield's Ordination 72 

Whitefield's Pulpit and the Old Man , , 386 

Whitefield's Sermon and the Clergyman 82 

Whitefield's Style, Specimens of 343 

Whitefield's Sympathy for Wesley in Affiiction 174 

'•Wicked Will" 162 

Wise Answer, a , 307 

Woman's Preaching , I34. 

Wonderful Results 328 

Young Mimic, the 153 

Young Missionary, the 302 

Young Spendthrift, the 63 



" Born to stand, 
A prince, among the worthies of the land. 
More than a prince — a sinner saved by grace: 
Prompt, at his meek and lowly Master's call, 
To prove himself the minister of all." 



2 



THE 

PRINCE OF PULPIT ORATORS. 



SKETCH OF GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 

" Behold, what fire is in his eye ! what fervor on his cheek ! That glo- 
rious burst of winged words, how bound they from his tongue ! The full 
expression of the mighty thought ; the strong, triumphant argument ; the 
rush of native eloquence, resistless as Niagara ; the keen demand, the clear 
reply; the metapnor, bold and free; the grasp of concentrated intellect 
wielding the omnipotence of truth; the grandeur of his speech, in his 
majesty of mind ! 11 

The illustrious name of George Whitefield is as 
familiar to the Christian world as "household 
words." He was the Christian hero of two hem- 
ispheres, honored and beloved in both. During 
the hundred revolving years which have passed 
since he with joy finished his course his name 
has lost none of its luster, and his fame is world- 
wide. 

Gloucestershire, England, distinguished as the 
birthplace of many world-renowned men — among 
others Tyndale, who translated the IsTew Testa- 
ment into English hundreds of years ago, and Sir 
Matthew Hale, the eminent jurist — has also the 
high honor of being the place where George 
Whitefield and Robert Raikes were born — the 



20 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

former the unequaled pulpit orator, the latter the 
founder of Sabbath-schools in England. It is also 
famous as the place where Bishop John Hooper 
was burned at the stake, and fell a martyr for the 
truth. It has been the home of reformers, martyrs, 
jurists, and orators ; and on the banks of the silver 
Severn stands the monument of Robert Raikes, 
the Sabbath-school pioneer. 

George, the sixth son of Thomas and Elizabeth 
Whitefield, was born on the 27th* of December 
1714 ; and it was in the Old Bell Inn, which is still 
standing, that George Whitefield, more than one 
hundred and fifty years ago, drew his first breath. 
After his father's death, which happened when 
George was about two years of age, the business 
of the inn was continued by his mother, and it was 
here that his early days were spent. 

In speaking of this era in his young life he says 
with characteristic simplicity, " I began to assist 
her in various ways, till at length I put on my blue 
apron and washed mops, cleaned rooms, and, in a 
word, became a professed and common drawer for 
near a year and a half." 

How strange that he who rose to the highest 
pinnacle of earthly fame, that he who astonished 
the world with his great oratorical powers, should 
have been in early life employed in waiting on 
customers in a bar-room i 

" His descent augured no brilliant future ; but 
if Virgil was the son of a potter, Demosthenes of 

♦His biographers say the 16th • Whitefield says the 27th. 
Whitefield's Works, vol. hi, p. 500. 



Tht Prince of Pulpit Orators. 21 



a smith, Columbus of a cloth-weaver, Ben Jonson 
of a bricklayer, Shakspeare of a wool-trader, Burns 
of a poor peasant, and Luther of a miner, it is not 
incredible that the preacher who united the mind 
of a cherub with the heart of a seraph should have 
sprung from an inn-keeper." * 

Beneath the blue apron of the tavern-boy draw- 
ing ale for the guests lay a troubled conscience ; 
and with the strange proclivity that often in boy- 
ish mimicries hints at peculiar fitness for some 
great calling, young Whitefield would imitate 
clergymen, read prayers, and, as he grew older, 
compose sermons. Deeper went the sounding-line 
into his evil heart, higher rose his breathings after 
a purer life ; and often late into the night, when 
the inn at Gloucester was dark and still, the can- 
dle yet burned at the window where sat the tavern- 
keeper's boy reading the Bible, that blessed book 
whose truths he was afterward to wield so effectu- 
ally as a weapon of divine power. 

Young Whitefield was educated at the Univer- 
sity in Oxford, which institution he entered in his 
eighteenth year, and it was here that he became 
acquainted with John and Charles Wesley, and 
joined the " Holy Club," Charles Wesley being 
his spiritual father, and John his early counselor. 

Early he entered the Christian ministry, and in 
the twenty-first year of his age was ordained by 
Bishop Benson, who had shown great favor to the 
young preacher. Through the influence of John 
and Charles Wesley he became a missionary to 
* Rev. Arthur Pierson. 



22 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Georgia, and was the founder of an orphan asylum 
in that colony, to which he devoted his time, his 
talents, his eloquence, and his life. 

Thirteen times he crossed the Atlantic Ocean, 
and in a ministry of thirty-four years preached 
over eighteen thousand sermons. In England, 
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, in the West India 
Islands, and in every colony in America, he 
preached the "Word of Life." No man ever 
preached to greater crowds. Twenty thousand 
in Philadelphia, thirty thousand on Boston Com- 
mon, in Kingswood ten thousand, on Hampton 
Common twelve thousand, at Bristol twenty thou- 
sand, and at Moorsfield sixty thousand, thronged 
to hear him. 

The questions are often asked, In what consisted 
the lock of his strength ? What was the secret of 
his great power ? What were his characteristics as 
a preacher ? We answer : Solemnity, tenderness, 
earnestness, courage, directness, and devotion. 

Mr. Whitefield had a fine presence, his per- 
sonal appearance being much in his favor. He 
was of middling height, well-proportioned and 
graceful ; his complexion fair, his countenance in- 
telligent and manly ; his eyes, which spoke vol- 
umes, were of a dark blue ; but one of them had a 
squint, which, while in nowise detrimental to his 
looks, but rather giving additional interest to 
them, furnished to his revilers a subject for ridi- 
cule, they calling him " Doctor Squintum." 

He not only had an eloquent eye, but also an 
eloquent face, every feature of which spoke to his 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 23 



audience. And, with all these requisites of a first- 
class speaker, he possessed a most magnificent 
voice. 

The most transcendent gifts Heaven has ever 
bestowed upon man are poetry and eloquence. 
With the latter Whitefield was richly endowed. 
The faculty of speech has rarely been given to 
man in such perfection as to him. He was the 
orator of nature. He was born an orator ! 

His was the eloquence of tears. It is an old 
maxim that if the preacher would have others 
weep he must himself weep. He was indeed the 
weeping prophet. Like David and Jeremiah, 
Jesus and Paul, he wept. It was the overflow of 
a great soul ; it was the gushing forth of his amaz- 
ing sympathy. His eyes were a fountain of tears 
deluging his cheeks. He baptized his hearers 
with them, and no wonder they were moved and 
melted. 

At one time while preaching he said, " Could 
my prayers or tears affect you, you should have a 
volley of the one and floods of the other." Again 
he said to another audience, " Would weeping, 
would tears, prevail on you, I could wish c my 
head were waters and my eyes fountains of tears, 
that I might weep ' out every argument and melt 
you into love." " I hardly ever knew him to go 
through a sermon," said one who knew him well 
and heard him often, " without weeping more or 
less." He used to say in the pulpit, " You blame 
me for weeping, but how can I help it when you 
vrill not weep for yourselves ? " 



24 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



" I have known him," says Cornelius Winter, 
" avail himself of the formality of the judge put- 
ting on his black cap to pronounce sentence. 
With his eyes full of tears, and his heart almost 
too big to admit of speech, he would say after a 
momentary pause, 6 1 am now going to put on my 
condemning cap. Sinner, I must do it ! I must 
pronounce sentence ! 5 Then in a burst of tremen- 
dous eloquence he would repeat our Lord's 
words, 1 Depart, ye cursed ! ' and not without a 
powerful description of the nature of that curse. 
But it was only by beholding his attitude and 
his tears that a person could well conceive of the 
effect." * 

Whitefield was not only the orator of nature, 
but also of art. He studied oratory; he drilled 
himself ; he copied the finest models ; he studied to 
show himself "a workman that needed not to be 
ashamed." He sought out " acceptable tones> 
gestures, and looks, as well as acceptable words. 
Every accent of his voice spoke to the ear ; every 
feature of his face, every motion of his hands, 
every gesture, spoke to the eye, so that the most 
dissipated and thoughtless found their attention 
involuntarily fixed." f He did not study uratory 
for mere purposes of display, nor for dramatic 
effect ; but that, through its powerful influence 
over the minds and hearts of men, he might the 
more effectually succeed in winning souls to 
Christ. He rebuked those at Oxford for their 
neglect of its study, provided for its instruction 

* Cornelius Winter in Jay. f Gillies. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 25 

in his orphan asylum, and recommended it in the 
American colleges. 

There was great versatility in his style. Some 
orators have one peculiar method from which they 
never vary. They are always grave, always pa- 
thetic, or always logical. Not so with Whitefield. 
In him there was splendid variety. He could be a 
son of thunder or of consolation ; blow the brazen 
trump of the law, or strike with gentle touch the 
silver strings of the Gospel ; introduce his hearers 
to Mount Sinai or to Calvary. He could thunder, 
or be as calm as a summer's evening ; as grand as 
the majesty of the howling storm, or as mild as the 
breath of spring. 

Whitefield dealt in the picturesque, but his pic- 
tures were truthful ; they were life-like, resembling 
the work of some great artist ; they were faithful 
delineations of nature and of individual character. 
He frequently illustrated his discourses by well- 
told anecdotes related with a peculiar zest ; his 
dramatic powers, which were of a high order, 
enabling him to describe incidents so vividly as 
to almost appear real, as in the case of Lord Ches- 
terfield and the story of the blind man's dog. 

He had a bold imagination, and the creations of 
his genius were beautiful. His style was always 
natural, and in perfect unison with the sentiments 
he uttered. There was about him a commanding 
majesty, a divine pathos, which, with the splendid 
music of his voice and the angelic benevolence of 
his countenance, fascinated his hearers. The over- 



26 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



powering grandeur of his theme fired his soul, 
kindled his imagination, and inspired his tongue. 
All the treasures of sweet and solemn sounds were 
at his command. His heart seemed to be a fount- 
ain of living fire, and he used to say that the 
world wanted more heat than light. The grandeur 
of his soul appeared to be transfused into his ser- 
mons as well as into his countenance. At times 
he seemed so superhuman and angelic that he has 
been styled " The Seraphic." 

Whitefield understood the power of illustration. 
He ever kept the volume of nature open before 
him, delighting to unfold its magnificent pages. 
The ocean, the thunder-storm, the bow encircling 
the heavens, furnished him with themes to illus- 
trate his subject ; or a trial, or a pilot-fish, or a 
furnace — in fact, any thing and everything, whether 
magnificently grand or ever so insignificant, he 
made subservient to his oratorical powers. His 
eloquence, reminded one of the ocean, adding, as 
it does, to its own boundlessness, contributions 
from every part of the universe. Well has it been 
said that Whitefield " ransacked creation for fig- 
ures, time for facts, heaven for motives, hell for 
warnings, and eternity for arguments.'' * 

There was a directness about his preaching. It 
did not mean every one in general and nobody in 
particular. He used the sharpest arrows, and took 
the most direct aim, addressing his hearers in such 
a manner that each one felt that he himself was 
meant. It was as direct as when Paul said to the 
* Philip's Life and Times of Whitefield. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 27 



Corinthians, " And such were some of you ; " as 
direct as when Nathan said to David, " Thou art 
the man ! " He said at one time, " I intend, by 
the divine help, not only to preach to your heads, 
but also to your hearts." 

In preaching he was terribly in earnest. He 
spoke as if he believed the truths he uttered — that 
there was a heaven and a hell ; as if he stood be- 
tween them listening to the groans of the damned 
on the one hand, and the songs of the redeemed on 
the other ; as if he could hear the knell of eternal 
death tolling over lost souls, and all the caverns 
of despair echoing with their groans ; as if he " had 
measured eternity, and taken the dimensions of a 
soul." 

But the crowning glory, the transcendent ex- 
cellence that, as a preacher, insured him success, 
was that he was endowed with power from on 
high. The holy anointing rested upon him — the 
divine unction, the baptism of the ever-blessed 
Spirit ! This it was that made him a flame of fire 
as well as a flame of love ; this that gave to him 

"Thoughts that breathe and words that burn ; " 

this that made " his tongue like the pen of a ready 
writer ; " this that caused his speech to distill as the 
dew upon the flower, the gentle rain upon the new- 
mown grass ; this that made his countenance look se- 
raphic, like that of Moses when he came down from 
communing with God on the mount ; this that 
made his eyes to glitter in the rays of the excel- 
lent glory, and his tongue to reverberate the sounds 



28 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



that came down from heaven ; this that gave him 
his commanding power, his burning zeal, his holy 
ardor, his heavenly enthusiasm, his melting 
pathos ! 

He studied his sermons under the shadow of the 
cross ; they were steeped in tears, baptized in the 
name of the Eternal Three, and then preached with 
the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. 

At one time, after having preached to tens of 
thousands, he says, " The glorious Immanuel 
caused life and power to follow it, and I hear that 
arrows have stuck fast in many hearts." Again, 
referring to his preaching on various occasions, he 
says, " A whole shower of divine blessings descend- 
ed from heaven upon the congregation." " The 
Lord was with me." " I preached with as con- 
vincing and soul-edifying a power as I ever felt in 
my life." " The words distilled as the dew, and I 
think I was in the very suburbs of heaven." " The 
word came with most gloriously convincing pow- 
er." " I preached again with great power." " I 
preached to about twelve thousand with uncom- 
mon freedom and power. Much of the divine 
presence was there." " Preached with wonderful 
power to a full congregation." "I preached with 
as great freedom, power, and melting as I have ever 
seen." "These words much refreshed me, ' And 
the Lord was with David whithersoever he went.' " 
" I preached with much of the Redeemer's pres- 
ence. Indeed, our Saviour kept the good wine 
■ till the last ; ' he made our cup to overflow." u I 
was enabled to preach there with so much power, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



29 



that all must confess God was with us of a truth." 
" My mouth and heart were greatly opened in 
preaching." " Sunday was a day of the Son of 
man. The word was clothed with much power 
both for sinners and for saints." Such were some 
of his expressions in regard to the great secret of 
his success. He had power divine, power obtained 
by wrestling with the angel of the covenant. 
" Had he been less prayerful he would have been 
less powerful. He was the prince of preachers 
without the vail, because he was a Jacob ■ within 
the vail.' His face shone when he came down 
from the mount, because he had been long alone 
with God upon the mount. It was this which 
won for him the title ' Seraphic,' not in the scho- 
lastic but in the angelic sense of the term. But he 
was a human seraph, and thus burnt out in the 
blaze of his own fire. He was so often at the 
throne, and always so near it, that, like the apoc- 
alyptic angel, he came down 'clothed with its 
rainbow.' " * 

Whitefield was wholly devoted to his work /rom 
the time the Bishop laid his hands on his head till 
he triumphantly finished his course and went up 
to receive his well-earned crown. He had one all- 
absorbing, all-engrossing object before him, and he 
made every thing bend to it, as is evinced by his 
enthusiastic exclamations : " O for more bodies, 
more tongues, more lives, to be employed in the 
service of my Master ! " "O that I could fly from 
pole to pole, preaching the everlasting Gospel ! " 
* Philip's Life and Times of Whitefield. 



30 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

" Fain would I spend and be spent for the good of 
souls." u It is my meat and my drink." " Had I 
a thousand lives the Lord Jesus should have them 
all ! " " O that I may die, and drop in my blessed 
Master's work ! " "I am determined, in his 
strength, to die fighting, and to go on till I 
drop ! " "I hope to die in the pulpit, or soon after 
I come out of it ! " " The pleasure I have had 
this week in preaching the Gospel I would not 
part with for ten thousand worlds ! " 

Preaching with him was no mere profession, nor 
did he enter the priest's office for a piece of bread. 
The pulpit he called his throne, and preaching his 
delightful work. He said there was " nothing like 
keeping the wheels oiled by action. The more we 
do the more we may do ; every act strengthens 
the habit, and the best preparation for preaching 
on Sunday is to preach every day in the week." 

The following description of Whitefield and his 
eloquence, taken from the New York Observer, is 
so graphic we take great pleasure in transcribing 
it: 

" The name of Whitefield is stereotyped on the 
popular mind as the representative of that highest 
of arts, pulpit eloquence; so that to say that a 
preacher is as eloquent as Whitefield would be re- 
garded as extravagant as to say that a senator 
was as eloquent as Demosthenes. And yet strange 
it is that no biographer or writer, in his day or 
ours, has given a just and true portraiture of this 
unequaled preacher. We read his printed ser- 
mons, and they disappoint us. We say to our- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 31 



uelves, These are not great sermons, nor apparently 
eloquent ones. We wonder how it was that their 
utterance, even by his fire-touched lips, could have 
so entranced listening thousands. But the truth 
is Whitefield wrote these sermons on his voyages 
across the Atlantic, amid the noise and uproar of 
sea-life, and in the absence of those stirring sym- 
pathies which were kindled in the crowded audi- 
ences of Tottenham Court. They cannot give one, 
therefore, a just idea of the preacher. It would be 
about as absurd to judge of his eloquence by 
these specimens as it would be to judge of the 
spirit and fire of a war-horse on the battle-field by 
seeing him leisurely walked over the parade- 
ground. 

" Of all men in the world, Whitefield was the last 
who should have published his sermons. So much 
did he owe to physical temperament, to the vol- 
ume and varied intonations of his voice, to the 
irrepressible fires of a soul all alive to the grand 
and overpowering visions of divine truth, to a sort 
of inspiration kindled by the sight of thousands 
whose eyes were ready to weep and whose hearts 
were ready to break the moment his clarion voice 
rang out on their expectant ears — so much did he 
owe to these circumstances that his eloquence 
cannot be appreciated by any account of it which 
can be given verbally, or be delineated on paper. 
Vain is it, therefore, to look into his printed ser- 
mons to find his power. 

" Whitefield's eloquence grew out of many cir- 
cumstances, all of which cannot be explored any 



32 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



more than we can trace the mysterious sources of 
the rapid, full-flowing, and fertilizing Nile. There 
was a histrionic vein in his very boyhood. The 
play of his passions even then was wonderful. As 
he grew to manhood these qualities ripened uncon- 
sciously into strength ; and so gifted was he at the 
very outset of his public life that had he chosen 
the stage instead of the pulpit, Garrick might have 
found a competitor whose genius would have 
eclipsed, if not utterly extinguished, his own. 
Such is said to have been the admission of that 
celebrated tragedian after listening to one of 
Whitefield's sermons. 

u Without being handsome, Whitefield's face 
was a speaking one. It was a luminous medium 
of the passions. The bright or the dark, the lurid 
cloud and the calm sunshine, made themselves 
known, not only in the voice and the gesture, but 
especially in the ever-varying expressions of the 
eloquent countenance. The writer, who has sought 
to obtain from every possible source traditionary 
facts concerning this matchless preacher, once 
heard a very old man say that when he was listen- 
ing to Whitefield he was spellbound, and could 
scarcely tell by what means the magic power was 
so potent over him. After some questioning, the 
old man said he believed it was owing to his voice 
in part, but more to his expressive face. That 
face, said he, was like a canvas, and the preacher 
painted on it every passion that stirs in the human 
breast. It was at one moment terrific, as if all the 
furies were enthroned on that dark brow ; and the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 33 

next, as by a dissolving view, there would come 
forth an angelic sweetness that savored of heaven 
itself. His eyes, upturned, seemed to the beholder 
to penetrate the very throne of God. He saw, so 
it would seem, the celestial host. He addressed 
Gabriel, as if familiar with that bright archangel. 
He bade him suspend his flight and receive the 
news, and bear it upward, that one more sinner 
had repented. Who but Whitefield would have 
dared the almost impossible rhetorical experiment ? 
Who would have ventured to cry out ' Stop, Ga- 
briel, stop ? ' But it was done by him, and as nat- 
urally as if the vision were real, and as if Gabriel 
folded his wings at the preacher's call, and received 
the joyful message. And when, too, he took the 
sinner to the judgment-seat, tried him by God's 
unerring law, brought him in guilty, and then, 
with moistened eyes and a heart burning with 
pity, put on the cap of condemnation, and pro- 
ceeded, with choking utterance, to pronounce sen- 
tence, while the audience were melted to tears — 
when all this was done, not as an actor would do 
it, but in the faith of a real prospective scene, and 
with unutterable sorrow of soul, as speaking under 
God's high sanction — how intensely moved and 
excited must the audience have been ! 

"It was no affectation when his tears fell like 
rain. It was for no rhetorical effect that he threw 
himself into these impassioned expostulations with 
his careless and impenitent hearers. Whitefield 
never played a part. His boldest and most orig- 
inal pulpit efforts were the natural efflux of a soul 
3 



34 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

which knew no selfish impulse, but which beat 
with sincere love to lost men. It was not White- 
field, but Christ, that he was thinking of. It was 
not to attract admiration upon himself, but to draw 
all men to the Saviour, that he thus spake. His 
eloquence was kindled at the cross, and displayed 
its grandest features when redemption by that 
cross was its mighty theme. 

"His personal appearance, judging from what 
is considered the best engraved likeness, is not 
calculated to impress us either with great intellect- 
ual force or a graceful exterior. That wig of 
huge dimensions, covering and concealing the 
higher and more striking lineaments of the fore- 
head ; the upraised hands, a most awkward thing 
in a picture, though a most impressive one to wit- 
ness ; his eyes, so small, with a decided cast in one 
of them, render this likeness any thing but conso- 
nant with our preconceived notions of the 6 seraphic 
man.' But while in person he was not among the 
most majestic or the most attractive, all defects 
were instantly lost sight of the moment that elo- 
quent voice began to peal out its unrivaled music. 
The term 4 seraphic ' was not given to him for his 
exterior grace or his symmetrical features. It 
was the spirit within him, shining through and 
illuminating those features, until the audience, 
hushed or excited, were ready to doubt if the 
speaker were a man or an angel ! His burning 
eloquence seemed to the listener as properly sym- 
bolizing the responsive cry, one to another, of the 
glowing seraphim. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 35 



"The eloquence of Whiteficld, by the concur- 
rent testimony of those with whom the writer in 
younger days conversed, including one venerable 
divine, was owing, as in most other similar cases, 
to a combination of qualities rather than to any 
single excellence. The great foundation of it all 
lay in a soul of intense emotions stirred to its very 
depths by the power of religion. He was a conse- 
crated man from the first. It was a full, joyful, 
and cordial surrender of all his powers and affec- 
tions to Christ, and to the love of souls for Christ's 
sake. He counted every thing but loss for him. 
His love was the grand impulsive power in all his 
journeys, his labors, his self-denials, and his aims. 
In this respect he came nearer than any modern 
preacher we know of to £ the great Apostle of the 
Gentiles.' 

" This burning zeal for Christ found expression 
:n the gesture, the countenance, and the voice. 
These were the electric wires through which the 
fiery current within flowed down in startling 
shocks or melting influences upon thousands. In 
gesture no man ever excelled, perhaps none ever 
equaled him. These gestures were unstudied, and 
so gave the greater emphasis to his utterance. A 
single movement of his finger, with the accompany- 
ing expression of his face, would thrill an audience 
or dissolve them in tears. His face, radiant with 
the light from heaven, which he had caught on the 
mount of communion, begat an immediate sympa- 
thy as all eyes were riveted upon it. A coun- 
tenance will thus affect us, as we all know. How 



36 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



often have we felt its power ere a word was spoken ! 
But O, when that face began to throw off from its 
lustrous surface the rays of divine intelligence, and 
when tears and smiles alternated as the subject 
was pensive or joyful, how did the audience, with 
responsive sympathy, weep or rejoice under the 
eloquent preacher ! But the voice ! What shall 
we say of that ? It was such as man is seldom 
gifted with. It could be heard distinctly, on a 
clear, still evening, for a mile. It was smooth, 
variable, and could express the gentlest emotions. 
It was capable, also, of swelling into thunder peals, 
and then every ear tingled and every heart trem- 
bled. If the organ of some great cathedral had 
the power to speak, and could express the finest 
and most tender sentiments from its delicate pipes, 
and roll forth majestic thoughts on its largest ones, 
it would give some idea of Whitefield's variable 
and powerful tones. 

" Whitefield's power as a pulpit orator cannot 
be separated from his pious emotions, nor from his 
religious views. Had he embraced a theory of 
religion less emotional, more after the pattern of 
rationalists or ritualists, his eloquence would have 
been lost to the world. Never would his soul bo 
have taken fire, nor his lips glowed with the burn- 
ing coal of enthusiastic passion. But he believed 
in man's ruin by sin, in the certain interminable 
woe that awaited the impenitent ; in the mercy of 
God through Jesus Christ, and the free offer of sal- 
vation through faith in the cross. Such were his 
views, and under this conviction he looked upon 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 37 



his audiences. He saw but one hope set before 
them, and with his whole soul moved and melted 
by the love of Christ on the one hand, and the 
love of souls on the other, he pressed every hearer, 
with all the energy of a dying man speaking to 
dying men, to accept the great salvation. Nor do 
we think that the pulpit can reach its appropriate 
power, nor for any length of time retain it, unless 
these grand cardinal doctrines of grace are the 
inspiring themes. 

" The eloquence of Whitefield never waned. It 
was greater if possible at fifty than at thirty. It 
never was more impressive or powerful than just 
before the silence of death suddenly settled upon 
his lips ; and his last efforts in the pulpit partook 
so much of a heavenly inspiration that some re- 
garded them as the preparatory vibrations of that 
golden harp upon which he was to swell forever 
the high notes of redemption." 

Mr. Whitefield often quoted Thomas Betterton, 
the famous English actor who for many years 
bore away the palm from all his competitors. 
Betterton affirmed that the stage would soon be 
deserted if the actors upon it spoke like the preach- 
ers. "Mr. Betterton's answer to a worthy prel- 
ate," said Mr. Whitefield, " is worthy of lasting 
regard. When asked how it was that the clergy, 
who speak of things real, affected the people so lit- 
tle, and the players, who speak of things imaginary, 
affected them so much, replied, 'My Lord, I can 
assign but one reason : We players speak of 
things imaginary as real, and too many of the 



38 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



clergy speak of things real as though they were 
imaginary.' " 

The favori te maxim of Whitefield was to " preach 
as Apelles painted — for eternity" He was first 
struck with this maxim when a young man at the 
table of Archbishop Boulter in Ireland, where the 
great Doctor Delany said to him, a I wish, when- 
ever I go into a pulpit, to look upon it as the last 
time I shall ever preach, or the last time the people 
may hear me." Whitefield never forgot this re- 
mark. He often said, "Would ministers preach 
for eternity they would then act the part of true 
Christian orators, and not only calmly and coolly 
inform the understanding, but, by persuasive, pa- 
thetic address, endeavor to move the affections and 
warm the heart. To act otherwise bespeaks a sad 
ignorance of human nature, and such an inexcus- 
able indolence and indifference in the preacher as 
must constrain the hearers to suspect, whether 
they so will or not, that the preacher, let him be 
who he will, only deals in the false commerce of 
unfelt truth" 

Much has been said and written concerning his 
printed sermons. It has been the custom to decry 
them, and they are seldom read. This shows that 
his eloquence consisted more in the \nanner than 
in the matter of his discourses. This is the case 
with many public speakers. It was so with Sum- 
inerfield, Bascom, and others. Some of his ser- 
mons were taken down in short-hand ; others were 
hastily written by himself while crossing the At- 
lantic. Some are tame a but others eloquent, and 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 39 

in their application powerful. They have not the 
beauty of Robert Hall, the strength of Chalmers, 
the massiveness of Edwards, the elegance of 
D wight, the splendor of Melville, the gorgeousness 
of Richard Winter Hamilton, nor the logic of the 
Wesleys ; yet they have been admired by many, 
and the reading of them has produced powerful 
effects. The reading of Whitefield's sermon on 
" What think ye of Christ ? " was the means of the 
conversion of the Rev. James Hervey. Reading 
his sermons led Andrew Kinsman to Christ, and 
he afterward became a distinguished minister. He 
was awakened while reading Mr. Whitefield's ser- 
mon on the New Birth. He then read them in his 
father's family, a number of whom were thereby 
converted. 

We will name but one more instance of the 
effects produced by the reading of these sermons. 
Samuel Morris, a resident of Virginia, having ob- 
tained a copy of Whitefield's sermons, which he 
read with great profit to himself, and feeling desir- 
ous that others should be similarly benefited, 
invited his neighbors to his house to hear them 
read ; the result was that an extraordinary relig- 
ious interest was created. Multitudes thronged to 
hear them, till at length the interest became so 
great that they erected a meeting-house for mere 
reading. Melting scenes followed, and sinners 
were awakened and converted. The people 
" could not keep from crying out and weeping bit- 
terly " during the readings. Mr. Morris, being 
invited to visit other localities with his volume of 



40 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

sermons, did so, and the awakening extended to 
several towns. Four chapels were built, and sev- 
eral societies organized in the neighborhood of 
Hanover, all resulting from the reading of these 
sermons. 

This volume of sermons, read by Morris, founded 
the Presbyterian Church in Virginia, no dissenting 
minister having prior to that time settled in the 
colony. Mr. Whitefield gives a full account of it 
in one of his letters. 

It might be supposed we were overrating his 
powers as a preacher, and overestimating him as a 
pulpit orator. Not so : we have not exaggerated 
at all, but have come far short of doing him jus- 
tice. It would take another Whitefield to do jus- 
tice to Whitefield. Had you heard him you would 
say the half had not been told you. 

We might adduce hosts of witnesses to testify 
to his superior powers as a pulpit orator, such as 
Franklin, Lord Chesterfield, Bolingbroke, Hume, 
and others from the fashionable and the literary 
world, as well as noted actors like Garrick, Shuter, 
and others. We will, however, notice the testi- 
mony of a few who were no mean judges of pulpit 
oratory : 

Augustus Toplady calls him the " prince of 
preachers." John Newton, the friend of Cowper, 
said, " As a preacher, if any man were to ask me 
who was the second best I had ever heard I 
should be at some loss ; but in regard to the first, 
Mr. Whitefield so far exceeds every other man 
of my time that I should be at none. He was the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



41 



original of popular preaching, and all our popular 
ministers are only his copies." 

Hervey, Doddridge, Watts, and Venn acknowl 
edge his talents as a pulpit orator, as did also 
many of the divines in America. John Wesley 
testified to his superior abilities as a pulpit orator. 
He says, " Mr. Whitefield in his public labors has 
for many years astonished the world with his elo- 
quence and devotion. . . . He speaks from the heart 
with a fervency of zeal perhaps unequaled since 
the days of the Apostles, adorning the truths he 
delivered with the most graceful charms of rhet- 
oric and oratory. From the pulpit he was un- 
rivaled in the command of an over-crowded 
oratory." 

" Whitefield was the prince of English preachers. 
Many have surpassed him as sermon-makers, but 
none have approached him as a pulpit orator. 
Many have outshone him in the clearness of their 
logic, the grandeur of their conceptions, and the 
sparkling beauty of single sentences ; but in the 
power of darting the Gospel direct into the con- 
science he eclipsed them all. With a full and 
beaming countenance, and the frank and easy port 
which the English people love — for it is the sym- 
bol of honest purpose and friendly assurance — he 
combined a voice of rich compass, which could 
equally thrill over Moorfields in musical thunder, 
or whisper its terrible secret in every private ear ; 
and to this gainly aspect and tuneful voice he 
added a most expressive and eloquent action. Im- 
proved by conscientious practice, and instinct with 



42 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



his earnest nature, this elocution was the act eel 
sermon, and by its pantomimic portrait enabled 
the eye to anticipate each rapid utterance, and 
helped the memory to treasure up the palpable 
ideas. 

" None ever used so boldly, nor with more suc- 
cess, the highest styles of impersonation. His 
' Hark ! hark ! 9 could conjure up Gethsemane 
with its faltering moan, and wake again the cry 
of horror-stricken innocence ; and an apostrophe to 
Peter on the Holy Mount would light up another 
Tabor, and drown it in glory from the opening 
heaven. His thoughts were possessions, and his 
feelings were transformations ; and if he spake be- 
cause he felt, his hearers understood because they 
saw. They were not only enthusiastic amateurs 
like Garriek, who ran to weep and tremble at his 
bursts of passion, but even the colder critics of the 
TTalpole school were surprised into momentary 
sympathy and reluctant wonder. But the glory of 
Yrhitefield's preaching was its heart-kindled and 
heart-melting Gospel. But for this all his bold 
strokes and brilliant surprises might have been no 
better than the rhetorical triumphs of Kirwan and 
other pulpit dramatists. Indeed so simple was his 
nature that, glory to God and good-will to man 
having filled it, there was room for little more. 
Having no Church to found, no family to enrich, 
and no memory to immortalize, he was the mere 
embassador of God ; and inspired with its genial, 
piteous spirit — so full of heaven reconciled and 
humanity restored — he soon himself became a liv- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 43 

mg Gospel. Radiant with its benignity, and trem- 
bling with its tenderness, by a sort of spiritual in 
duction a vast audience would speedily be brought 
into a frame of mind the transfusing of his own, 
and the white furrows on their sooty faces told 
that Kingswood colliers were weeping, or the 
quivering of an ostrich plume bespoke its elegant 
wearer's deep emotion. And, coming to his work 
direct from communion with his Master, and in all 
the strength of accepted prayer, there was an ele- 
vation in his mien which often paralyzed hostility, 
and a self-possession which only made him, amid 
uproar and fury, the more sublime. With an elec- 
tric bolt he would bring the jester in his fool's-cap 
from his perch on the tree, or galvanize the brick- 
bat from the skulking miscreant's grasp, or sweep 
down in crouching submission and shame-faced 
silence the whole of Bartholomew Fair; while a 
revealing flash of sententious doctrine or vivified 
Scripture would disclose to awe-stricken hundreds 
the forgotten verities of another world, or the un- 
suspected arcana of their inner man. 'I came to 
break your head, but, through you, God has 
broken my heart,' was a sort of confession with 
which he was familiar ; and to see the deaf old 
gentlewoman, who used to mutter imprecations at 
him as he passed along the street, clambering up 
the pulpit stairs to catch his angelic words, was a 
sort of spectacle which the triumphant Gospel 
often witnessed in his day. And when it is known 
that his voice could be heard by twenty thousand, 
and that, ranging all the empire, as well as Ameri- 



44 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



ca, he would often preach thrice on a working-day, 
and that he has received in one week as many as a 
thousand letters from persons awakened by his 
sermons, if no estimate can* be formed of the re- 
sults of his ministry, some idea may be suggested 
of its vast extent and singular effectiveness." * 

The portrait of the faithful minister drawn by 
Goldsmith in his " Deserted Village " is a good 
picture of Whitefield : 

" Unskillful be to fawn, or seek for power 
By doctrines fashion' d to the varying hour; 
Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize. 
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. 
Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, 
And even his failings lean'd to virtue's side; 
But in his duty prompt at every call, 
He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all: 
And as a bird each fond endearment tries 
To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, 
He tries each art. reprov'd each dull delay, 
Allured to brighter worlds and led the way." 

Cowper says of Whitefield : 

" Paul's love of Christ and steadiness unbribed, 
Were copied close in him, and well transcribed; 
He followed Paul, — his zeal a kindred flame, 
His apostolic charity the same. 
Like him, crossed cheerfully tempestuous seas, 
Forsaking country, kindred, friends, and ease ; 
Like him he labored, and like him, content 
To bear it, suffered shame where'er he went." 

Dr. Stevens speaks of Whitefi eld's " wonderful 
power," his " unrivaled power." He says, " White- 
°Rev. James Hamilton, D.D. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



45 



field was a man of no great intelligence, and of 
A ess learning, but of unquestionable genius ; per- 
haps the greatest known, in the greatest or at least 
the rarest power of genius — eloquence."* Again, 
"He has the grand distinction of having traveled 
more extensively for the Gospel, preached it oftener, 
and preached it more eloquently, than any other 
man, ancient or modern, within the same limits 
of life. A nobler eulogy could not crown his 
memory." f 

Whit efield and Wesley are often named together 
in histories and biographies, and we wonder not 
they were so identified, their early history being 
so blended the one with the other that, like the 
colors of the rainbow, you cannot name the one 
without introducing the other. They were both 
members and ministers of the Church of England ; 
both belonged to the " Holy Club," the original 
Methodists ; both were early identified with field 
preaching, though the honor of introducing it be- 
longed to Mr. Whitefield ; they were both mission- 
aries to America ; both were itinerant evangelists ; 
both preached and prayed extemporaneously; both 
were reformers, and promoted the great revival of 
experimental Christianity which awoke the slum- 
bering energies of the Church and blessed the 
world. 

Whitefield and Wesley were originally Armin- 
ians ; afterward they differed on theological sub- 
jects, Whitefield becoming a Calvinist, and Wes- 
ley remaining an Arminian. There were points 

* History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 468. f Ibid., p. 480. 



46 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

of dissimilarity between them. It has been well 
said, "Whitefield was a snmmer cloud, which 
burst at morning or noon in fragrant exhilaration 
over an ample tract, and took the rest of the day 
to gather up again. Wesley was the polished 
conduit in the midst of the garden through which 
the living water glided in pearly brightness and 
perennial music, the same vivid stream from day 
day. Whitefield was like the powder-blast in the 
quarry, and would by one explosive sermon shake 
a district, and detach materials for other men's 
long work — deft, neat, and painstaking. Wesley 
loved to split and trim each fragment into uniform 
plinths and polished stones. Whitefield had no 
patience for ecclesiastical polity, no adaptation for 
pastoral details. With a beaver-like propensity 
for building, Wesley was always constructing so- 
cieties, and, with king-like craft of ruling, was most 
at home when presiding over a class or a Confer- 
ence." * There were also other points of dissimi- 
larity. Whitefield was not distinguished for great- 
ness of intellect or soundness of judgment ; Wes- 
ley had an intellect of a superior order, and a 
judgment of peculiar strength. Whitefield was 
not a superior scholar ; Wesley was distinguished 
for his learning. Whitefield was not great as a 
theologian ; Wesley was a profound one. White- 
field was not an able controversialist — he had no 
taste for controversy ; Wesley here excelled. 
Whitefield was more of a declaimer ; Wesley was 
a profound logician. 

* North British Review. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



47 



In eloquence Mr. Whitefield was greatly supe- 
rior to Wesley, though Mr. Wesley was no mean 
orator. Whitefield's eloquence was often like 
Niagara pouring forth its mighty tide of waters, 
or like the anthem of old ocean ; Wesley's like the 
gentle, flowing stream, or the silvery lake, whoso 
clear waters reflect the beauty and tranquillity of 
the skies. There was a difference also in regard 
to the result of their labors. Whitefield did not 
organize and form societies ; Mr. Wesley did. 
Whitefield would cut down the grain and then 
leave it to molder ; Wesley would not only cut it 
down and bind it into sheaves, but would also 
gather it into the granary. The work of White- 
field is comparatively circumscribed ; that of Wes- 
ley is extending with every rising sun and every 
waning moon. Whitefield died comparatively 
young ; Wesley lived to a good old age ere 

"The weary wheels of life stood still." 

It is seldom one man is endowed with many 
extraordinary gifts. Mr. Whitefield was not re- 
markable for superior strength of intellect, sound- 
ness of judgment, ripe scholarship, nor as a logi- 
cian or writer. There have been men who ex- 
celled him in all these respects, yet he was the 
imperial pulpit orator. By universal consent man- 
kind have assigned to him the first rank in pulpit 
eloquence. This is no mean position when we re- 
member the Church has enrolled on her calen- 
dar the names of many very eloquent divines, such 
as Massillon and Saurin, Chalmers and Hall, Brad- 



48 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

burn and Newton, Mason and Griffin, Summerfield 
and Bascom, and other immortal names that can- 
not die. 

Whitefield's pre-eminence as a pulpit orator is 
universally acknowledged. He stands alone with- 
out a superior, without an equal ; like Saul of old, 
towering head and shoulders above his fellows; 
occupying a similar place among pulpit orators to 
that which Luther does among reformers, Shak- 
speare and Milton among poets, Michael Angelo 
among sculptors, Raphael among painters, Haydn 
and Handel in music, and Newton in astronomy. 
He rises above other pulpit orators like the lofty 
tower above some noble edifice. To leave out 
George Whitefield from among pulpit orators 
would be like a performance of the tragedy of 
Hamlet with the character of the Prince of Den- 
mark omitted ; like leaving out the name of Wash- 
ington from our Revolutionary history, or obliter- 
ating the sun from the solar system. 

There is but one sun in the heavens — Apollo, 
king of day — though there are hosts of lesser lights ; 
there is but one Niagara in all the universe — king 
of cataracts, prince of waterfalls — though there are 
many cascades ; so there have been many splendid 
pulpit orators, but Whitefield stands unrivaled. 

*We judge of the powers of an orator by the 
effects produced by his eloquence. Now he who 
could draw tears from eyes unused to weep, and 
empty pockets that seldom gave; that could secure 
the admiration of polite, select audiences, and the 
attention of scores of thousands in the open fields; 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 49 



he who could secure the attention of the cool, philo- 
sophic Franklin, of the polite Chesterfield, of such 
skeptics as Hume and Bolingbroke ; he who 
charmed, moved, thrilled, and melted multitudes 
all over the world, must surely have possessed unri- 
valed powers of oratory. It might be said with 
truth concerning him, " Never man spake like this 
man." 

We have often heard and read of" young White- 
fields," " modern Whitefields," and of "the French 
Whitefields ;" but this is all a mistake. When the 
chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof arrived, 
and Whitefield stepped in and was borne away to 
the everlasting hills, many exclaimed, " My father ! 
my father ! " but none have ever caught his man- 
tle ; he must have taken it with him, for he has 
had no successor. Of a truth, it may be said of 
Whitefield as John Dry den said of Shakspeare, 

" Whitefield's magic could not copied be ; 
Within the circle none dare walk but he." 

The results of his labors were wonderful. In 
every place the seals of his ministry were numer- 
ous. The results of his labors were seen and felt 
in all the Churches in Great Britain and America. 
He was the means of the conversion of many who 
became preachers of the Gospel, bright and shining 
lights in the Church, some of them stars of the 
first magnitude. In America he greatly benefited 
Samuel Hopkins, and David Brainerd, the distin- 
guished missionary to the Indians, as well as hosts 
of others, whose names are embalmed in the heart 

4 



50 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



of the Church. In England the elegant James 
Hervey, the eloquent Augustus Toplady, the gifted 
Robert Robinson, the poetical Thomas Olivers, 
Thomas Rankin, Wesley's early missionary to 
America, and John Nelson, the heroic warrior, to- 
gether with such flaming heralds of the cross as 
Andrew Kinsman, Henry Tappen, Captain Scott, 
Captain Joss, and many others, were either his 
spiritual sons, or were wonderfully profited by his 
ministry, so very successful was he in raising up 
standard-bearers for the army of King Immanuel, 
who could lead on the sacramental hosts to glory 
and to victory. 

Earth hath no scales with which to weigh, and 
no arithmetic with which to calculate, the stupen- 
dous influence he is still exerting:. For " beino; 
dead he yet speaketh," and he will speak till the 
last page in the world's history shall have been 
written, and the angel shall announce that " Time 
is no longer ! " 

Whitefield was ever busily engaged in his Mas- 
ter's work. He heard a voice constantly ringing 
in his ear the command, " Occupy till I come ! " 
expecting soon to hear the same voice say, " Give 
an account of thy stewardship, for thou shaft be 
no longer steward." His motto was, u Xo nest- 
ling on this side eternity." At one time he writes, 
"Lord, when thou seest me in danger of nestling, 
in tender pity put a thorn into my nest to prevent 
my doing it ;" and again, " I am determined to go 
on till I drop ; to die fighting, though it be on my 
stumps" Here was Christian chivalry, genuine 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 5 1 

beroism worthy of Paul. His language seemed 
to be, 

" My soul is not at rest. There comes a strange 
And secret whisper to my spirit, like 
A dream of night, that tells me I am on 
Enchanted ground! Why live I here? The vows 
Of God are on me, and I may not stoop 
To play with shadows, or pluck earthly flowers, 
Till I my work have done, and rendered up 
Account." 

In September, 1769, Mr. Whitefield started on 
his last voyage for America, this being his thir- 
teenth trip across the Atlantic. On his arrival he 
was delighted to find Bethesda (the orphan house) 
in a state of unparalleled prosperity. " I am hap- 
pier," he wrote, " than words can express. O 
Bethesda ! my Bethel ! my Peniel! my happiness is 
inconceivable." But he could not long rest there, 
for " all must give place to Gospel ranging — 
divine employ," and soon he commenced his north- 
ern journey. On the morning of his departure he 
wrote these memorable words : " This will prove a 
sacred year for me at the day of judgment. Hal- 
leluiah ! come, Lord, come ! " How prophetic ! 
He was exceeding happy during his final and tri- 
umphant tour. He wrote to England, " Hallelu- 
iah ! halleluiah ! let chapel, tabernacle, heaven and 
earth resound with halleluiah ! I can no more ; 
my heart is too big to speak or add more." To 
his early and life-time friend, Charles Wesley, he 
wrote thus : " I can sit down and cry, 4 What hath 
God wrought ! ' My bodily health is much im- 



52 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

proved, and my soul is on the wing for another 
Gospel range. Unutterable love ! I am lost in 
wonder and amazement." Never was he in a hap- 
pier frame of mind, never did his soul exult more 
triumphantly, never did his path shine brighter, 
never did his heart beat warmer, never were his 
joys greater, or his prospects more brilliant. To 
him Paradise was regained, Eden's long-lost glories 
restored. He was in the land of Beulah, where the 
sun shines day and night, where the birds sing, 
and flowers perennial bloom. 

His last Gospel range was one of great success. 
His march was like that of an illustrious con- 
queror. He added victory to victory, triumph to 
triumph. We have not time to follow him to the 
" City of Brotherly Love," where he was warmly 
received, and where thrilling scenes transpired; 
nor to New York, where his congregations were 
larger than ever, and where crowds thronged to 
listen with wonder and delight to his soul-stirring 
eloquence ; nor to Albany, Schenectady, and other 
places which he visited, and where he was hailed 
as an angel from God. Delighted in looking at 
the immense fields already white unto harvest, he 
wrote, " O, what new scenes of usefulness are open- 
ing in various points of this New World ! " How 
true ! The scenes have opened. What open doors 
have been entered ! How the wilderness and the 
solitary place have been made glad, and the des- 
ert has rejoiced and blossomed as the rose ! What 
he saw in the future we have realized. What to 
him was prophecy to us is history. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 53 



The last entry he made in his journal relates 
to this tour : " 1 heard afterward that the word 
ran and was glorified. Grace ! grace ! " He had 
preached on the coffin of a criminal under the 
gallows, and he concludes his diary thus : " Sol- 
emn ! solemn ! effectual good I hope was done. 
Grace ! grace ! " What a beautiful conclusion ! 
What a sublime climax ! The termination is wor- 
thy of the immortal Whitefield, who here lays 
aside the pen forever. His journals are complete, 
as soon will be his life. We are approaching its 
termination, and O, how the interest is heightened ! 

At Boston he was received with open arms, and 
crowds attended his ministry, receiving the word 
with eagerness. He then went to Portsmouth, 
preaching there and in the vicinity six times. 

In the midst of these enthusiastic labors he had 
been told that he ought not preach so often, to 
which he responded, "I would sooner wear out 
than rust out ; " and now his overtaxed energies 
were about giving way under the terrible strain to 
which for years they had been subjected. 

His last sermon was delivered in the open air at 
Exeter, the 29th of September. Before preaching 
some one said to him, " Sir, you are more fit to go 
to bed than to preach." " True, sir," replied Mr. 
Whitefield ; then, turning aside, he clasped his 
hands together, and, looking up, said, "Lord Je- 
sus, I am weary in thy work, but not of thy work. 
If I have not yet finished my course, let me go on 
and speak for thee once more in the fields, seal 
thy truth, then go home and die." 



54 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



His last text was from 2 Cor. xiii, 5 : " Examine 
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your 
own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how 
that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be repro- 
bates ? " A reverend old gentleman thus described 
the impressions made upon his mind by what he 
saw and heard of this mighty apostle on this his 
last appearance in public. " The subject of his 
remarks was c Faith and Works. 5 He rose up 
sluggishly and wearily, as if worn down and ex- 
hausted by his stupendous labors. His face 
seemed bloated, his voice hoarse, his enunciation 
heavy, as the breaking up of the waters. Sentence 
after sentence was thrown off in rough, disjointed 
portions, without much regard to point or beauty ; 
at length his mind kindled over a single idea, and 
an explosion of his lion-like voice roared to the 
extremities of the audience. He was speaking of 
the inefficiency of works to merit salvation, and he 
suddenly cried out in a tone of thunder, 6 Works t 
works 1 a man get to heaven by works ! I would as 
soon think of climbing up to the moon on a rope 
of sand!' But the thunder of that fearful voice 
could not long be sustained ; he soon flagged, and 
deep, sepulchral hoarseness succeeded. He was an 
old, worn-out veteran, whose armor had rusted in 
the war, and the dews of the tented field were 
heavy and chill upon his brow." 

Pale and almost dying, Whitefield then uttered 
one of the most eloquent and pathetic passages 
that had ever fallen from his lips even in his 
palmiest days : " I go" said he, " to my everlasting 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 5 5 



rest. My sun has risen, shone, and is setting — 
nay, it is about to rise and shine forever. I have 
not lived in vain. And though I could live to 
preach Christ a thousand years, I die to be with 
him, which is far better P How beautiful, how 
surpassingly beautiful, considering the circum- 
stances attending their utterance, were these 
words ! How true ! His sun had risen, yea, had 
risen in beauty and surpassing grandeur; had 
shone full-orbed in its meridian glory — its beams 
illuming with their heavenly radiance the dark 
abodes of sin — and, while leaving rays of glorious 
light behind, was now setting in cloudless splen- 
dor to rise where " the righteous shall shine forth 
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." 

The sermon was two hours in length. " It was 
an effort of stupendous eloquence — his last field 
triumph ; the last of that series of mighty sermons 
which had been resounding like trumpet blasts for 
thirty-four years over England and America." * 

That afternoon he returned to Newburyport 
with his old friend, Rev. Mr. Parsons, at whose 
house he died. This was Saturday, and Mr. 
Whitefield was to preach there on the Sabbath. 
Crowds gathered to hear him that evening. After 
stating that he could not say a word, he took a 
candle and left for bed. Feeling the worth of 
souls, and seeing the number who were hunger- 
ing for the word of life, he paused on the stairs 
and delivered to them an exhortation of powerful 
eloquence and melting pathos. His voice was 
* Dr. Stevens's History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 446. 



56 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

musical, the audience were melted, and tears 
flowed freely. He talked on until the candle he 
was holding in his hand burned away and vient 
out in its socket. The old warrior had now fought 
his last battle, the old sword that he had wielded 
so successfully was returned to its scabbard. He 
had said, " O that I may one day be lifted from 
the pulpit to the throne ! " and again, " O that the 
prison-doors were set open, and the bird suffered 
to fly out of the cage ; then would I fly to heaven, 
and upon one of the boughs of free grace sing the 
praises of redeeming love forever ! " That long- 
wished-for hour was at hand ; his fondest hopes 
about to be realized. 

In the night his asthma, with which he for a long 
time had been seriously troubled, came on, and he 
wished to have the window raised. He said, " I 
cannot breathe, but I hope I shall be better by 
and by ; a good pulpit-sweat to-day may give me 
relief; I shall be better after preaching." But the 
old hero of a thousand battle-fields could no longer 
wield the " sword of the Spirit," nor again, with 
clarion tones, range in embattled front the soldiers 
of the cross. He then sat up in bed, and, having 
already preached his last sermon and delivered 
his last exhortation, he now offered up his last 
prayer, and then laid himself down to sleep again. 
This was about three o'clock. A little before four 
he said, " My asthma, my asthma is coming on." 
He grew worse. He got out of the bed and went 
to the window for air. Soon after he said, "i" am 
dyiny." The doctor was sent for, medicine was 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 57 

given him, but all in vain ; again he said, U I am 
dying." At six o'clock on Sabbath morning, 
September 30, 1770, just as the sun was rising in 
the east, the brilliancy of an eternal day burst 
upon his enraptured vision. He had long prayed 
for and desired to close his earthly career suddenly, 
not only because it would save him " the pains, the 
groans, the dying strife," but because " sudden 
death would be sudden glory." 

His death was a translation like Enoch's, like 
Elijah's; though no chariot of fire and horsemen 
appeared, yet angels were there and whispered, 

" Sister spirit, come away." 

Like a warrior, he died " with his harness on," 
covered with scars, and loaded with honors. 

Thus passed from earth the greatest pulpit ora- 
tor since the days of Apollos, and one of the great- 
est evangelists that ever adorned the Church or 
blessed the world. No wonder there was mourn- 
ing not only at Newburyport, but throughout 
America and the Old World. Thousands attended 
his funeral, and the procession was over a mile in 
length. Many were there who felt like Rev. Dan- 
iel Rogers, one of Mr. Whitefield's spiritual chil- 
dren, who, in offering the prayer at the funeral, 
burst into tears, and exclaimed, " My father ! my 
father ! the chariots of Israel and the horsemen 
thereof." 

Mr. Whitefield had requested, should he die in 
America, to be buried in front of the pulpit of 
the Federal-street Presbyterian Church in New- 



5 8 . The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

buryport. His desire was complied with ; a vault 
was dug, and devout men laid him quietly to rest, 
embalmed by the tears of the wise and the good. 
There sleeps, in hope of a glorious resurrection, the 
evangelist of the world, one of the ministers of a 
new Gospel era, one who could not be confined by 
parish lines, but who considered the world as his 
parish and the universe as his diocese. There is no 
name more fragrant than Whitefield's, none more 
enduring. Earth holds no dust more sacred than 
his ; around no other sepulcher do higher and holier 
interests cluster. Many make pilgrimages to the 
venerable church edifice under whose pulpit he is 
sleeping, and look with reverence upon the hal- 
lowed remains of the Prince of Pulpit Orators, 
whose spirit has been a hundred years with God. 



iOTD ILLUSTRATIONS. 



"G-o to him! He is not without foibles, versed in much 
strange knowledge, and familiar with the intricacies of the 
heart. You'll live long and go far ere you find such another." 



ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



We purpose giving the history of the Prince of 
Pulpit Orators more fully in the pages that follow, 
and to illustrate his character and his great orator- 
ical powers by anecdotes and incidents, with which 
his life abounded. A more inviting field no man 
ever entered; a richer harvest no man ever gar- 
nered. 

These incidents have all the charms of fiction, 
and at the same time all the weight of truth, and 
form an anecdotal history of Whitefield and his 
contemporaries, among whom were Lady Hunting- 
don and her noble friends Lords Chesterfield and 
Bolingbroke ; also Dr. Johnson, David Hume, and 
Benjamin Franklin ; and distinguished actors, such 
as Garrick, Shuter, and Foote, as well as many 
eminent divines, both of Europe and America. 

The reader will find himself among soldiers and 
sailors, among the learned and the ignorant ; with 
the select few who were of reputation, and in the 
presence of immense multitudes who with upturned 
faces hung in silent wonder upon the eloquent 
words uttered by him who moved the masses as 
the leaves are moved by the summer breeze. 

In furnishing these anecdotes and incidents we 
are following Whitefield's example, for no one 
ever abounded more in illustrative anecdotes and 
incidents than did he, introducing them, as he did, 



62 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



in his sermons, letters, and controversial works 
with great power and effect. These anecdotes and 
incidents are rich and instructive; some of them 
will excite wonder and admiration ; others, pity 
and contempt ; others, smiles and tears. Some are 
concerning his boyhood and youth ; others, his 
manhood, when in his palmy days; still others, 
concerning him when the " almond-tree " flourished, 
and the u strong man bowed himself," and the shad- 
ows of a long evening were gathering around him. 



Boyish Tricks. 

For most of readers anecdotes of the boyhood 
of great men have a peculiar interest. This being 
the case with those connected with the early days 
of Washington, Bonaparte, Wesley, Adam Clarke, 
and others, they find highly delighted readers, 
who luxuriate among them. It is thus w T ith the 
anecdotes of young Whitefield. 

Many people delight in playing tricks upon 
others. To them might be used the language of 
the frog described in JEsop's fables to the boys 
who were stoning them, " This may be sport to 
you, but it is death to us." Young Whitefield 
Avas full of mischief in his early days ; fun was 
the element in which lie lived, moved, and had 
his being. He says, " Often have I joined with 
others in playing roguish tricks upon people, but 
was generally, if not always, happily detected, 
for which I have often since, and I do now, bless 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



63 



And praise God." This propensity, so often in- 
dulged in, to raise a laugh at the expense of 
others, grows with a man's growth, strengthens 
with his strength, and ripens with his riper years. 
The exposure of young Whitefield's "tricks" 
completely cured him of a pernicious habit that 
would have been to himself a source of great 
trouble, as well as an annoyance to others. 



The Young Spendthrift 

In very early life young Whitefield was a spend- 
thrift ; he was extravagant, and, -worse than all, 
the money he spent was ill-gotten gain. The 
sooner a young lad can learn lessons of honesty 
and economy the better. With characteristic 
frankness he says, " I spent much money, improp- 
erly obtained from my mother, in cards, plays, 
and romances, which were my heart's delight." 
What a sad picture is this which he draws of him- 
self in his boyish days ! It may be true to life, 
horribly exact; but it is painful to contemplate. 
While we admire his honesty in thus describing 
himself, we deplore the profligacy in youth of one 
who, in after life, became so bright a light in the 
Christian world. 



The Miniature Play-actor. 

Young Whitefield, having a good memory and 
a graceful elocution, early acquired fame as a 
epeaker. He was not only fond of reading plays, 



64 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



but he spent considerable time in preparation for 
acting them with his school-fellows. His school- 
master, perceiving his propensity for the drama, as 
well as his great dramatic powers, prepared several 
pieces to be represented by him and his associates 
in the school, thus encouraging his habit. He also 
gained a great reputation as an orator, and was 
called upon to deliver addresses before the city 
corporation at their annual visitation of the school, 
by which he not only acquired fame, but also 
pecuniary rewards. 

It may be thought that this early drilling and 
practice must have been especially beneficial to 
him in early developing his oratorical powers, and 
thus giving him the requisite confidence for success 
as a pulpit orator. He may have derived some 
benefit, but most likely much more of evil, from such 
exercises ; for his great dramatic powers were for 
a time a snare to him, as the reader will see from 
Whitefield's own admissions on the subject. "I 
cannot," says he, " but observe here, with much 
concern of mind, how this way of training up 
youth has a natural tendency to debauch the 
mind, to raise ill passions, and to fill the memory 
with things as contrary to the Gospel of Christ as 
darkness is to light, as hell to heaven." Again he 
says, "I became acquainted with such a set of 
debauched, abandoned, atheistical youths, that if 
God, by his free, unmerited, and special grace, had 
not delivered me out of their hands, I should have 
sat in the scorner's chair and made mock of sin. 
. • In short, I soon made great proficiency in tho 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 65 



school of the devil. I soon affected to look rakish, 
and was in a fair way of being as infamous as the 
worst of them." Miserable school for young 
Whitefield ! Sad lessons, such as came near prov- 
ing his ruin, did he learn there ! 



The Dream. 

There can be no doubt but that undue impor- 
tance has often 'been attached to dreams, though 
they are at times very significant. This was the 
case with Joseph and Pharaoh's dream, and with 
John Bunyan, who dreamed that the end of the 
world and the day of judgment had arrived ; he 
thought the earth quaked, and opened her mouth 
to receive him. Once he dreamed that he was just 
dropping into the flames among the damned, and 
that a person in white raiment suddenly plucked 
him as a brand out of the fire. These dreams 
made impressions on his mind never to be for- 
gotten, and perhaps inclined him many years 
after to publish that masterpiece of all his works, 
PilgrirrCs Progress, under the similitude of a 
dream. 

When George Whitefield was a school-boy six- 
teen years of age he dreamed that he was to see 
God on Mount Sinai. This made a deep impression 
upon his mind. He related it to a lady of his 
acquaintance, who interpreted it thus: "George, 
this is a call from God! " In this light he viewed 
»fc, for h# says, "I grew more serious after the 

5 



66 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



dream." And in this instance, as is frequently the 
case, a dream had great influence in shaping the 
future destiny of the dreamer. 



The Reproof. 

About the time he had the dream just nar- 
rated, he one night, while going on an errand for 
his mother, had a very strong impression made 
upon him that he should soon preach the Gospel. 
When he returned home he innocently informed 
Jiis mother how singularly his mind had thus been 
wrought upon, and, in connection with it, related 
his dream. But she had no more confidence in his 
dream than Jacob had in Joseph's, and no more 
confidence in his impression than she had in his 
dream. She gave him a look of reproof, and said 
to him with a tone of authority, " What does the 
boy mean ? Prithee, hold thy tongue." He after- 
ward said that he was " like Joseph, who had more 
honesty than policy, or he would never have related 
his dream." 



The Profitable Visit. 

George Whitefield and Charles Wesley are 
lames that should be blended together — Wesley 
the poet, and Whitefield the orator. 

Mr. Whitefield ever honored Charles W^esley as 
his spiritual father, and the love existing between 
them was like that of Jonathan and David. When 
Mr. Whitefield was at Oxford University he ad- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



6 7 



mired the conduct of John and Charles Wesley, 
and he was very anxious to form their acquaint- 
ance, and very strangely was the door opened to 
him. 

There was a very poor woman in one of the 
work-houses who had attempted to commit suicide, 
but was prevented. Whitefield heard of it, and, 
knowing that both the Wesley s were good to the 
poor and kind to the suffering, he sent a poor old 
apple-woman of the college to inform Charles 
Wesley of the fact, at the same time charging her 
not to tell him who it was that had sent her ; but 
she, disobeying the injunction, told him it was a 
young collegian by the name of Whitefield. 
Charles Wesley then sent an invitation by the 
woman, inviting Whitefield to breakfast with him 
the next morning. Whitefield says, u I thankfully 
embraced the opportunity ; and, blessed be God ! it 
was one of the most profitable visits I ever made 
in my life. My soul was at that time athirst for 
some spiritual friend to lift up my hands when 
they hung down, and to strengthen my feeble 
knees. He [Charles Wesley] soon discovered this, 
and, like a wise winner of souls, made all his dis- 
course tend that way." 



Whitefield and the Excellent Treatise. 

Who can estimate the value of one good book ! 
Charles Wesley lent Mr. Whitefield several books, 
among others, "The Life of God in the Soul of 
Man;" of which he says, "Though I had fasted, 



68 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

watched, and prayed, and received the sacrament 
so long, yet I never knew what true religion was 
till God sent me that excellent treatise by the 
hand of my never-to-be-forgotten friend. At my 
first reading I wondered what the anthor meant 
by saying that ' Some falsely placed religion in 
going to church, doing hurt to no one, being con- 
stant in the duties of the closet, and now and then 
reaching out their hands to give alms to their poor 
neighbors.' Alas! thought I, if this be not re- 
ligion what is ? God soon showed me ; for in 
reading, a few lines further on, that c true religion 
was a union of the soul with God and Christ 
formed within us,' a ray of divine light was in- 
stantaneously darted in upon my soul, and from 
that moment, and not till then, did I know that I 
must be a new creature." What a flood of light 
he obtained in regard to his duty ! What an era 
in his history ! 



Whitefield's Conversion. 

Whitefield had been groping for months in the 
darkness of despair, and his sufferings were intol- 
erable. "Sin revived, and he died." He says, 
" Though weak, I often spent two hours in my 
evening retirements, and prayed over my Greek 
Testament, and Bishop Hall's most excellent * Con- 
templations.'" While thus engaged in searching 
the Scriptures, he discovered the true grounds of a 
sinner's hope and justification. The testimony of 
God concerning his Son became "power unto 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 69 



salvation." " I found and felt in myself," says lie, 
" that I was delivered from the burden that had so 
heavily oppressed me. The spirit of mourning 
was taken from me, and I knew what it was truly 
to rejoice in God my Saviour. For some time 1 
could not avoid singing psalms wherever I was ; 
but my joy became gradually more settled. Thus 
were the days of my mourning ended ; after a long 
night of desertion and temptation the star, which I 
had seen at a distance before, began to appear 
again — the day-star arose in my heart." 

Such is the brief sketch of his conversion, which 
was not only an important era in his own history, 
but also in that of thousands who were converted 
to God under his ministry. 



Whitefield and the College Master ; or, the Rash 
Vow- 

Whitefield, like the Wesleys, early began to 
visit the poor and the prisoners. "He was eyes to 
the blind and feet to the lame. The blessing of 
them who were ready to perish came upon him, for 
he was a father to the fatherless, and he caused 
the widow's heart to sing for joy." 

He says, " I incurred the displeasure of the 
master of the college, who frequently chid, and 
once threatened to expel me if I ever visited the poor 
again. Being surprised by this treatment, and 
overawed by his authority, I spake unadvisedly 
with my lips, and said if it displeased him I would 
not. My conscience soon smote me for this sinful 



70 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

compliance. I immediately repen ted, and visited the 
poor the first opportunity, and told my companions 
if ever I was called to a stake for Christ's sake I 
would serve my tongue as Archbishop Cranmer 
served his hand — make that burn first ! " Nor 
were his efforts confined to private houses; he 
constantly visited the town jail to read and pray 
with the prisoners. 



Whitefield and his Relatives. 

When God converts a man his first business is 
to try to convert some one else. He has the mis- 
sionary spirit at once. His language is, 

"Now will I tell to sinners round 
What a dear Saviour I have found ; 
I'll point to Thy redeeming blood, 
And say, Behold the way to God." 

Immediately after his conversion he exerted 
himself on behalf of his relations and friends at 
Gloucester. His discovery of the necessity of 
regeneration, like Melanchthon's discovery of the 
truth, led him to imagine that no one could resist 
the evidence which convinced his own mind. He 
says, " Like the woman of Samaria when Christ 
revealed himself to her at the well, I had no rest 
in my soul till I wrote letters to my relations tell- 
ing them there was such a thing as the new birth. 
I imagined they would have gladly received it ; 
but, alas ! my words seemed to them as idle tales. 
They thought I was getting beside myself." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 71 



Whitefield and his First Converts. 

Very early he had fruit. It was a harbinger of 
the glorious harvest that followed. He says, " Being 
unaccustomed for some time to live without spirit- 
ual companions, and finding none that would 
heartily join me — no, not one — I watched unto 
prayer all the day long, beseeching God to raise 
me some religious associates in his own way and 
time. c I will endeavor,' said I, £ either to find or 
make a friend.' " Whitefield here acted on the prin- 
ciple that had once been suggested by a man to his 
friend John Wesley, "You must find companions 
or make them. The Bible knows nothing of a 
solitary religion." " It had been," says White- 
field, u my resolution now for some time, and 
therefore, after importunate prayer one day, I 
resolved to go to the house of one Mrs. W., to 
whom I had formerly read plays, Spectators, Pope's 
Homer, and such like trifling books; hoping the 
alteration she would now find in my sentiments 
might, under God, influence her soul. God was 
pleased to bless the visit with the desired effect ; 
she received the Word gladly ; she wanted to be 
taught the way of God more perfectly, and soon 
became c a fool for Christ's sake.' ISTot long after 
God made me instrumental in awakening several 
young persons, who soon formed themselves into a 
little society, and had quickly the honor of being 
despised at Gloucester, as we had before been at 
Oxford. Thus all who would live godly in Christ 
Jesus must suffer persecution." 



72 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield's Ordination. 

There were serious difficulties in the way of his 
ordination, but they were singularly overcome or 
providentially overruled. We insert all pertain- 
ing to his ordination, written by his own hand. 
Never did a man enter upon the work of the min- 
istry more reluctantly or more cautiously. Never 
did man realize the solemnity and importance of 
his ordination vows more than he. It was to him as 
solemn as his dying hour ; as solemn as the judg- 
ment day. This gives us a key to his whole char- 
acter, and it was the main-spring of all his actions, 
and the cause of his unparalleled success. We 
wonder not that carnal ministers, formal professors, 
sinners of the grosser sort, sinners of the fashionable 
sort, trembled under the torrents of eloquence he 
poured forth. No wonder he shook heaven, and 
brought salvation down ; that he shook earth, and 
also the trembling gates of hell. 

He could say, in the language of his friend 
Doddridge : 

" happy bond, that seals my vows 

To Him who merits all my love ! 
Let cheerful anthems fill his house, 

While to that sacred shrine I move. 

" High heaven, that heard that solemn vow, 

That vow renewed shall daily hear, 
Till in life's latest hour I bow. 

And bless in death a bond so dear." 

During the latter part of Whitefield's residence 
in Gloucester, although " despised " by many, his 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



73 



friends multiplied in spite of all the odium which 
his opinions and practice called forth. They be- 
came urgent for his immediate ordination, and 
solicitous to see him in a sphere worthy of his tal- 
ents and zeal. But such were, now, his views of 
the ministry that he put a decided negative upon 
all their applications, intrenching his refusal in a 
resolution of the diocesans, " not to ordain any 
under twenty-three years of age." He was not yet 
twenty-one. This apparently insurmountable ob- 
jection was, however, soon removed. He obtained, 
about this time, an introduction to Lady Selwyn, 
who had marked her approbation of him by a 
handsome present of money, and by an immediate 
application to the Bishop on his behalf. The char- 
acter she seems to have given of him had its due 
weight with Dr. Benson. u As I was coming from 
the cathedral prayers," says Whitefield, " thinking 
of no such thing, one of the vergers called after 
me and said the Bishop desired to speak with me. 
I immediately turned back, considering within my- 
self what I had done to deserve his lordship's dis- 
pleasure. When I came to the top of the palace 
stairs, the Bishop took me by the hand, told me he 
was glad to see me, and bid me wait a little till 
he had put off his habit, and he would return to 
me again. This gave me an opportunity of pray- 
ing to God for his assistance, and adoring him for 
his providence over me. At his coming again into 
the room, the Bishop told me that he had heard of 
my character, liked my behavior at church, and, 
inquiring my age, said, ' Notwithstanding I have 



74 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 

declared I would not ordain any one under three 
and twenty, yet I shall think it my duty to ordain 
you whenever you come for holy orders.' He 
then made me a present of five guineas to buy me 
a book." Thus was the chief external hinderance 
removed at once, and with it his hesitation van- 
ished. " From the time I first entered the Univer- 
sity," he continues, " especially from the time I 
knew what was true and undefiled Christianity, I 
entertained high thoughts of the importance of the 
ministerial office, and was not solicitous what place 
should be prepared for me, but how T should be 
prepared for a place. That saying of the apostle, 
' Not a novice, lest, being puffed up with pride, he 
fall into the condemnation of the evil ; ' and that 
first question of our excellent ordination office, 
' Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by 
the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and 
administration ? ' used even to make me tremble 
whenever I thought of entering into the ministry. 
The shyness of Moses and some other prophets, 
when God sent them out in a public capacity, I 
thought was sufficient to teach me not to ran until 
I was called. He who knoweth the hearts of men 
is witness that I never prayed more earnestly 
against any thing than I did against entering into 
this service of the Church so soon. Oftentimes I 
have been in an agony in prayer when under con- 
victions of my insufficiency for so great a work ; 
with strong cries and tears I have frequently said, 
4 Lord, I am a youth of uncircumcised lips ; Lord, 
send me not into thy vineyard yet.' And some- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 75 



times I had reason to think God was angry with 
me for resisting his will. However, I was resolved 
to pray thus as long as I could. If God did not 
grant my request in keeping me out of it, I knew 
his grace would be sufficient to support and 
strengthen me whenever he sent me into the min- 
istry. 

" To my prayers I added my endeavors, and 
wrote letters to my friends at Oxford, beseeching 
them to pray to God to disappoint my country 
friends, who were for my taking orders as soon as 
possible. Their answer was, 4 Pray we the Lord 
of the harvest to send thee and many more labor- 
ers into his harvest.' Another old and worthy 
minister of Christ, when I wrote to him about the 
meaning of the word novice, answered, it^meant a 
novice in grace and not in years ; and he was 
pleased to add, if St. Paul were then at Gloucester 
he believed St. Paul would ordain me. All this 
did not satisfy me ; I still continued instant in 
prayer against going into holy orders, and was not 
thoroughly convinced it was the divine will till 
God by his providence brought me acquainted 
with the Bishop of Gloucester." " Before I came 
home the news had reached my friends, who, being 
fond of my having such a great man's favor, were 
very solicitous to know the event of my visit. 
Many things I hid from them ; but when they 
pressed me hard I was obliged to tell them how 
the Bishop, of his own accord, had offered to give 
me holy orders whenever I would. On which 
they, knowing how I had depended on the decla- 



•j6 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

ration his lordship had made some time ago, said, 
and I then began to think myself, that if I held 
out any longer I should fight against God. At 
length I came to a resolution, by God's leave, to 
offer myself for holy orders the next Ember-days." 

Having thus surmounted his difficulties, he pro- 
ceeded at once to prepare himself for ordination. 
He had before satisfied himself of the truth of the 
Thirty-nine Articles by comparing them with the 
Scriptures ; but it does not appear that the Prayer 
Book, as a whole, was submitted to the same test — ■ 
he seems to have taken its truth for granted. 
This is the more remarkable because in every 
thing else he was conscientious. 

"I strictly examined myself," says he, "by the 
qualifications required for a minister, in St. Paul's 
Epistle to Timothy, and also by every question 
that I knew would be put to me at the time of my 
ordination. This latter I drew out in writing at 
large, and sealed my approbation of it every Sun- 
day at the blessed sacrament. At length, Trinity 
Sunday being near at hand, and having my testi- 
monials from the college, I went, a fortnight be- 
forehand, to Gloucester, intending to compose 
some sermons, and to give myself more particularly 
to prayer. When I came to Gloucester, notwith- 
standing I strove and prayed for several days, and 
had matter enough in my heart, yet I was so 
restrained that I could not compose any thing at 
all. I mentioned my case to a clergyman ; he 
said I was an enthusiast, I wrote to another, who 
was experienced in the divine life ; he gave me 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 77 



Borne reasons why God might deal with me in that 
manner, and, withal, promised me his prayers. 
The remainder of the fortnight I spent in reading 
the several missions of the prophets and apostles, 
and wrestled with God to give me grace to follow 
their good examples. 

"About three days before the time appointed 
for ordination the Bishop came to town. The 
next evening I sent his lordship an abstract of my 
private examination upon these two questions : 
f Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by 
the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and 
administration ? ' and, c Are you called according 
to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the laws 
of this realm ? ' The next morning I waited upon 
the Bishop. He received me with much love, 
telling me he was glad I was come, and that he 
was satisfied with the preparation I had made. 
Upon this I took my leave, abashed with God's 
goodness to such a wretch, but withal exceedingly 
rejoiced that in every circumstance he made my 
way into the ministry so very plain before my 
face. This, I think, was on Friday. The follow- 
ing day I continued in abstinence and prayer. In 
the evening I retired to a hill near the town and 
prayed fervently for about two hours on behalf of 
myself and those that were to be ordained with 
me. On Sunday morning I rose early, and prayed 
over St. Paul's Epistle to Timothy, and more par- 
ticularly over that precept, 'Let no one despise 
thy youth.' When I went up to the altar I could 
think of nothing but Samuel's standing, a little 



78 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

child, before the Lord, with a linen ephod. When 
the Bishop laid his hands upon my head my heart 
was melted down, and I offered up my whole 
spirit, soul, and body to the service of God's 
sanctuary. I read the Gospel, at the Bishop's 
command, with power, and afterward sealed the 
good confession I had made before many witnesses 
by partaking of the holy sacrament." 

His feelings and views upon this solemn occa- 
sion are recorded still more forcibly in two letters 
to a friend. The first is so excellent that no apol- 
ology is required for inserting it here entire : 

" Gloucester, June 20, 1 1 3 6. 
" My dear Friend : This is a day much to be 
remembered, O my soul ! for about noon I was sol- 
emnly admitted by good Bishop Benson, before 
many witnesses, into holy orders, and was, blessed 
be God ! kept composed both before and after im- 
position of hands. I endeavored to behave with 
unaffected devotion, but not suitable enough to the 
greatness of the office I was to undertake. At the 
same time I trust I answered to every question 
from the bottom of my heart, and heartily prayed 
that God might say, Amen. I hope the good of 
souls will be my only principle of action. Let 
come what will — life or death, depth or height — 
I shall henceforward live like one who this day, 
in the presence of men and angels, took the holy 
sacrament upon the profession of being inwardly 
moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon me that 
ministration in the Church. This I began with 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 79 

reading prayers to the prisoners in the county jail. 
Whether I myself shall ever have the honor of 
styling myself £ a prisoner of the Lord ' I know 
not ; but indeed, my dear friend, I can call heaven 
and earth to witness, that when the Bishop laid his 
hand upon me I gave myself up to be a martyr 
for Him who hung upon the cross for me. Known 
unto him are all future events and contingencies. 
I have thrown myself blindfold, and I trust with- 
out reserve, into his almighty hands, only I would 
have you observe, that till you hear of my dying 
for or in my work you will not be apprised of all 
the preferment that is expected by 

" G. Whitefield." 

" Perhaps," says Philip, " no mind since the 
apostolic age has been more deeply affected, or 
suitably exercised, by 4 the laying on of hands ' 
than Whitefield's was. A supernatural unction 
from the Holy One could hardly have produced 
greater moral effects. That high sense of responsi- 
bility, that singleness of heart, that entire and in- 
tense devotedness of soul, body, and spirit, which 
characterized the first embassadors of Christ, 
seems revived in him. Accordingly, after reading 
the narrative of his ordination, we naturally expect 
from Whitefield a sort of apostolic career. This 
would be anticipated were we utterly ignorant of 
the result. After witnessing at the altar a spirit 
wound up to the highest pitch of ardor, throbbing 
and thrilling with strong emotions, and, like a 
renovated eagle, impatient to break away, we nat- 



8o 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



urally look for a corresponding swiftness of flight 
and width of sweep, and feel that we shall not be 
surprised by any thing which follows. His unbos- 
omings of himself disclose in his heart a ' secret 
place of thunder 5 and 4 a fountain of tears,' from 
w T hich we expect alternate bursts of terror and ten- 
derness — bolts of Sinai and dew of Hermon — and 
we shall not be disappointed." * 



Whitefield's First Sermon. 

Whitefield's first sermon was on the u The Ne- 
cessity and Benefits of Religious Society " from the 
text " Two are better than one." He says that the 
next morning after he was ordained, while waiting 
upon God in prayer to know what he would have 
him do, the words, " Speak out, Paul," came 
with great power to his soul. " Immediately," 
says he, " my heart was enlarged, and I preached 
on the Sunday following to a very crowded au- 
dience with as much freedom as though I had been 
a preacher for some years." No wonder, for he 
had sought strength from on high, and could say 
with Paul, " God has not given unto us the spirit 
of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound 
mind." His own description of the sermon in a 
letter to a friend is very graphic, and best tells the 
story. 

"My dear Friend: Glory, glory, glory be 
ascribed to an almighty triune God ! Last Sun- 

* Philip's Lift and Times of Whitefield, p. 45. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 8 1 



day, in the afternoon, I preached my first sermon 
in the church of St. Mary De Crypt, where I was 
baptized, and also first received the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper. Curiosity, as you may easily 
guess, drew a large congregation together on the 
occasion. The sight at first a little awed me ; but 
I was comforted by a heart-felt sense of the divine 
presence, and soon found the unspeakable advan- 
tage of having been accustomed to public speaking 
when a boy at school, and of exhorting and teach- 
ing the prisoners and poor people at their private 
houses while at the University. By these means I 
was kept from being daunted overmuch. As I 
proceeded I perceived the fire kindled, till at last, 
though so young, and amid a crowd of those who 
knew me in my infant, childish days, I trust I was 
enabled to speak with some degree of gospel au- 
thority. Some few mocked, but most, for the pres- 
ent, seemed struck ; and I have since heard that a 
complaint had been made to the Bishop that I 
drove fifteen mad by the first sermon. The wor- 
thy prelate, as I am informed, wished that the 
madness might not be forgotten before next Sun- 
day. Before then I hope my sermon upon 'He 
that is in Christ is a new creature 5 will be com- 
pleted. Blessed be God ! I now find freedom in 
writing. Glorious Jesus, 

c Unloose my stammering tongue to tell 
Thy love immense, unsearchable ! ' 

Being thus engaged, I must hasten to subscribe 
myself, G. Whitefielix" 

6 



82 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield's Sermon and the Clergyman. 

Whitefield, in speaking of his first sermon, 
says, "It was my intention to have had at least 
a hundred sermons with which to begin my min- 
istry, but I had not a single one by me at the 
time, except one I had sent to a neighboring cler- 
gyman to convince him how unfit I was to take 
upon myself the important work of preaching. 
This sermon the clergyman retained a fortnight, 
and then returned with a guinea for the loan, tell- 
ing me he had, by dividing it, preached it morning 
and evening to his congregation." 



Whitefield, the Wesleys, and Georgia. 

There can be no doubt but that the Wesleys 
were the means of George Whitefield first coming 
to America. Had it not been for them he might 
never have visited this country, nor ever have 
written his name all over the colonies. John and 
Charles Wesley were missionaries to Georgia, 
and, seeing the fields already white to harvest 
in the New World, invited and urged Whitefield 
to come over and thrust in the sickle. John 
Wesley wrote several letters to him, and in one 
of them he inquired, "Do you ask what you 
shall have ? Food to eat, raiment to wear, a 
house to lay your head in such as your Lord 
had not, and a crown of glory that fadeth not 
away." On receiving the letter Whitefield says 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 83 



his heart leaped within him and echoed to the 
call. Nobly he responded to it. It made an era 
in his history, in that of the Church, and in that 
of America. 

The following extracts are from a poem ad- 
dressed to Whitefield by Charles Wesley at the 
time : 

11 Servant of God, the summons hear ; 

Thy Master calls — arise, obey 1 
The tokens of his will appear, 

His providence points out the way. 
****** 

" Champion of God, thy Lord proclaim ; 

Jesus alone resolve to know : 
Tread down thy foes in Jesus' name ; 

Go 1 conquering and to conquer, go. 

"Through racks and fires pursue thy way; 

Be mindful of a dyiDg God ; 
Finish thy course, and win the day ; 

Look up, and seal the truth with blood ! " 

He also, in a poetic epistle addressed to Whitefield 
many years afterward, says : 

"In a strange land I stood, 

And beckoned thee to cross the Atlantic flood; 

With true affection winged, thy ready mind 

Left country, fame, and ease and friends behind ; 

And, eager all Heaven's counsels to explore, 

Flew through the wat'ry world and grasped the shore." 

The Wesley s returned to England, Mr. White- 
field taking their place. He at this time says in 
his journal, "I must labor most heartily since I 



84 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

come after such "worthy predecessors. The good 
Mr. John Wesley has done in America is inex- 
pressible. His name is very precious among the 
people, and he has laid a foundation that I hope 
neither men nor devils will ever be able to shake. 
O that I may follow him as he followed Christ ! " 



Incidents Connected with Whitefield's First 
Voyage to America. 

The latter end of December, 1737, Whitefield 
embarked for Georgia on board the ship Whitte- 
car, though the vessel did not sail till the end of 
January, 1738. 

ROUGH RECEPTION. 

There was a curious mixture on board of sol- 
diers and sailors. The captains of both, with the 
surgeon and cadets, treated him for a time as if he 
were an impostor, and to mark their contempt for 
him, turned the vessel into a gambling-house dur- 
ing the whole of the first Sabbath. 

WHITEFIELD AND THE MILITARY CAPTAIN. 

The military captain was quite haughty and 
overbearing. Whitefield had a peculiar dread of 
him ; but by kindness and attention to his " red- 
coat parishioners " he made a fine impression upon 
the officers as well as upon the men. Having 
been invited to take coffee with the captain in 
his cabin, he went, and took the opportunity 
of saying that he thought it "a little odd to 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



85 



preach and pray to the servants, and not to the 
master." This good-humored hint he followed up 
by proposing to read a collect now and then to 
him and the other gentlemen in the great cabin. 
At first the captain shook his head; but after a 
pause he said, "I think we may when we have 
nothing else to do." It was not long before the 
military captain, without being asked, requested 
that they might have public service and expound- 
ing twice a day in the great cabin. 

WHITEFIELD AND THE SEA-CAPTAIN. 

While the vessel was lying in the Downs, Mr. 
Whitefield ventured one day to remove "The In- 
dependent Whig" from the captain's pillow and 
replace it with a book called " The Self-Deceiver." 
Next morning the captain came to him smiling, 
and asked who it was that had made the ex- 
change. Whitefield acknowledged he had done 
it, and begged the captain to accept of the book. 
He read it, and it produced in him a visible change. 
Whitefield preached a sermon on board against 
drunkenness. Captain Mackay backed up the 
word, urging the men to attend to the things that 
had been spoken to them, telling them that he had 
been a notorious swearer, and beseeching them for 
Christ's sake to give up their sins. There was a 
wonderful reformation on board the vessel. The 
ship became almost as orderly as a church. The 
men were regularly summoned by the drum to 
morning and evening prayers. Cards and profane 
books were thrown overboard ; religious books 



86 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



were in great demand ; an oath became a strange 
thing. So marked was the change produced in 
Captain Mackay that the general exclamation on 
board the vessel was, " What a change in our 
captain ! " 

WHITEFIELD AND THE WEDDING. 

During the voyage a marriage took place on 
board the vessel, the ceremony being performed 
on the deck. The bridegroom exhibited great 
levity while Mr. Whitefield was going through the 
service. He thereupon closed the prayer book, 
and refused to proceed further until a more serious 
appreciation of the obligations they were taking 
upon themselves had been evinced, when he fin- 
ished the ceremony, and on closing gave the bride 
a Bible. 

WHITEFIELD AND FALSE FRIENDS. 

We have already noticed Mr. Whitefield's great 
power in illustrating his subjects. The following 
is a specimen. " To-day," he says in his journal 
of his first voyage to Georgia, tc Colonel C. came 
to dine with us, and in the midst of our meal we 
were entertained with a most agreeable sight. It 
was a shark about the length of a man, which fol- 
lowed our ship, attended by five small fish called 
pilot-fish, much like our mackerel, but larger. 
These, I am told, always keep the shark company ; 
and, what is most surprising, though the shark is 
such a ravenous creature, yet, let it be ever so 
hungry, it will never touch one of them. Nor are 
they less faithful to him ; for I am informed that 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



87 



when the shark is hooked very often these little 
fish will cleave close to his fins, and are taken up 
with him. Go to the pilot-fish, thou that forsakest 
a friend in adversity ; consider his ways, and be 
ashamed." 



Whitefield and the Dying Infidel. 

In speaking of incidents connected with his so- 
journ in Savannah Whitefield says : " I was 
obliged to express my resentment against infidelity 
by refusing to read the burial service over the 
most professed unbeliever I ever met with. God 
was pleased to visit him with lingering illness, 
during w r hich I went to see him frequently. About 
five weeks ago I asked him what religion he was 
of. He answered, 'Religion is of so many sects 
I know not which to choose.' Another time I 
offered to pray with him, but he would not accept 
it, upon which I resolved to go to see him no 
more. But ' being told, two days before he died, 
that he had an inclination to see me, I went again, 
and after a little conversation put the following 
questions to him : ' Do you believe Jesus Christ to 
be God, and the one Mediator between God and 
man ? ' He said, c I believe Jesus Christ was a 
good man.' fi Do you believe the Holy Scrip- 
tures ? ' 4 1 believe something of the Old Testa- 
ment ; the New I do not believe at all.' ' Do you 
believe, sir, in a judgment to come ? ' He turned 
himself about and replied, c I know not what to say 
to that.' c Alas, sir ! ' said I, 6 . if all these things 



88 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



should be true, what ? 5 which words, I believe 
gave him great concern, for he seemed afterward 
to be very uneasy, grew delirious, and in a day or 
two departed. Unhappy man, how quickly he 
was convinced ! The day after his decease he was 
carried to the ground, and I refused to read the 
service over him ; but I went to the grave, and 
told the people what had passed between him and 
myself ; and, warning them all against infidelity, I 
asked them whether I could safely say, 6 As our 
hope is, this our brother doth ? ' Upon which I 
believe they were thoroughly satisfied that I had 
acted right." 



Whitefield and the Indian King. 

Whitefield, like John Wesley, had poor success 
among the Indians. Soon after his first arrival in 
America he was taken sick, and on recovering the 
first thing he did was to visit Tomo-Chichi, the 
Indian king, then on his death-bed. This was the 
micoe, or king, whom Oglethorpe brought to En- 
gland in 1734 and introduced to George II. He 
was accompanied by his wife and son, and seven 
other Indians of the Creek nation. His eloquent 
speech to the king and queen is well known, and 
was so well received at court that he was loaded 
with presents, and even sent in one of the royal 
carriages to Gravesend, when he had to embark 
again. u He now lay," says Whitefield, " on a 
blanket, thin and meager ; little else but skin and 
bones. Senanki, his wife, sat by, fanning him with 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 89 



Indian feathers. There was no one could talk 
English, so I could only shake hands with him and 
leave him." A few days after Whitefield went 
again to visit Tomo-Chichi, and found that his 
nephew, Tooanoowee, could speak English. " I de- 
sired him to ask his uncle whether he thought he 
should die ; who answered, c I cannot tell.' I then 
asked where he thought he should go after death ? 
He replied, 4 To heaven.' But, alas ! how can a 
drunkard enter there ? I then exhorted Tooanoo- 
wee, who is a tall, proper youth, not to get drunk, 
telling him that he understood English, and there- 
fore would be punished the more if he did not live 
better. I then asked him whether he believed in 
a heaven ? 4 Yes,' said he. I then asked whether 
he believed in a hell, and described it by pointing 
to the fire. He replied, c No.' From whence we 
may easily gather how natural it is to all mankind 
to believe there is a place of happiness because 
they wish it to be so; and on the contrary, how 
averse they are to believe a place of torment be- 
cause they wish it may not be so. But God is just 
and true ; and as surely as the righteous shall go 
away into everlasting happiness, so the impeni- 
tently wicked shall go into everlasting punish- 
ment." 



Incidents of a Perilous Voyage. 

In September, 1738, Whitefield left Charleston 
for London on his first return voyage from Amer- 
ica. At that time a trip across the Atlantic at 



9 o 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



best was a very different matter from what it now 
is. The ship being out of repair, and poorly pro- 
visioned, the passengers and crew were soon re- 
duced to an allowance of water, and the voyage 
proved a most perilous one. 

HEROISM. 

They were overtaken by a vessel having a plen- 
tiful supply of water and provision. The captain 
sent for Mr. Whitefield to come on board, and 
offered him a most commodious berth. But he 
declined to leave his shipmates in distress, and 
remained on board the vessel, sharing in their suf- 
ferings and fate. Here was genuine heroism ! 
Here was nobleness of soul ! Here was abne- 
gation of self! The remainder of the voyage was 
still more distressing ; not only on account of a 
short allowance, but also from being beset with 
terrific storms, fierce gales of wind, and huge 
waves, causing death to stare them in the face. 

FRUIT. 

Whitefield was instant in season and out of sea- 
son. He worked for his Master on the ocean as 
well as on the land. He was comforted with the 
large attendance on public worship twice a day, 
and the impressions that were made under the 
word. God gave him souls upon the ocean and 
in the midst of storms. The captain of the vessel 
cried out under the word, " Lord, break this heart 
of mine ! " A Captain Gladman, one of the passen- 
gers, was converted ; and afterward, at the earnest 
request of Whitefield, became his fellow-traveler. 



The Pri?ice of Pulpit Orators. 91 

Blessed are they that sow beside all waters ! 
After nine weeks' tossing and beating to and fro 
they heard the joyful cry of " land," and soon after 
found themselves safe in the harbor of Limerick. 



Whitefield and the Chancellor. 

Whitefield when rapidly rising to eminence as 
a popular minister visited Bristol. The Chancel- 
lor of that diocese had told him that he would not 
prohibit any minister from lending him a church ; 
but in the course of a week he sent for him, and 
told him he intended to stop his proceedings. He 
then asked him by what authority he preached in 
the diocese of Bristol without a license. White- 
field replied, " I thought that custom obsolete." 
" And pray, sir," said the Chancellor, " why did 
you not ask the clergyman this question who 
preached for you last Thursday?" He then read 
to him those canons which forbade any minister 
preaching in a private house. Whitefield answered 
that he apprehended they did not apply to pro- 
fessed ministers of the Church of England. 
When he was informed of his mistake he said, 
•"There is also a canon, sir, forbidding all clergy- 
men to frequent taverns and to play at cards. 
Why is not that put in execution ? " and he added 
that, notwithstanding those canons, he could not 
but speak the things which he knew, and that he 
was resolved to proceed as usual. The answer 
was written down, and the Chancellor then said, 
l< I am resolved, sir, if you preach or expound any 



92 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



where in this diocese till you have a license I will 
first suspend and then excommunicate you." 
With this declaration of war they parted, but the 
advantage was wholly on the side of Whitefield. 

In recording his interview with the Chancellor 
he says, " This day my Master honored me more 
than he ever did yet." He rejoiced that he was 
counted worthy to suffer for the cause of his Mas- 
ter, and on he went with his heaven-approved 
work. 



Whitefield and his First Field Pulpit. 

To Whitefield belongs the high honor of first 
introducing field preaching. He was preaching 
one Sunday at Bermondsey Church to a crowded 
audience, and hundreds had gone away, not being 
able to find room, besides which there were a thou- 
sand people in the church-yard, and he had a 
strong inclination to go out and preach to them 
from one of the tomb-stones. " This," he says, 
" put me first upon thinking of preaching out of 
doors. I mentioned it to some of my friends, who 
looked upon it as a mad notion. However we 
knelt down and prayed that nothing might be 
done rashly." 

Kingswood, that had in its day been a royal 
chase, was inhabited by colliers, who were savage 
and ignorant, and had no house of worship. Mr. 
Whitefield having spoken at Bristol of his being 
about to start for America for the purpose of con- 
verting the savages, some one remarked, "What 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 93 



need of going abroad for this ? Have we not In- 
dians enough at home ? If you have a mind to 
convert Indians, there are colliers enough in Kings- 
wood." For these colliers Whitefield felt wonder- 
ful sympathy, they being very numerous, and like 
sheep without a shepherd. On Sabbath, February 
17, 1739, he stood upon a mount, in a place called 
Rose Green, his " first field pulpit," and preached 
to the colliers the " word of life." " I thought," 
said he, " it might be doing the service of my Cre- 
ator, who had a mountain for his pulpit and the 
heavens for a sounding-board ; and who, when his 
Gospel was refused by the Jews, sent his servants 
into the highways and hedges." He had crossed 
the Rubicon. He was fully aware of the impor- 
tance of this first step. In his Journal he says, 
" Blessed be God that the ice is now broken, and 
I have now taken the field. Some may censure 
me, but is there not a cause ? Pulpits are denied, 
and the poor colliers ready to perish for lack of 
knowledge." 



Field Preaching. 

Whitefield having once taken the field was en- 
couraged to go on, for God set the broad-seal ol 
his approbation upon his course. All the churches 
being shut against him, and, if open, not able to 
contain half who came to hear him, he went again 
to Kmgswood; his second audience consisted of 
two thousand persons, his third from four to five 
thousand, and they kept on increasing to ten, four- 



94 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



teen, and twenty thousand. " The sun shone very 
bright," he says, " and the people standing in such 
an awful manner round the mount, in the pro- 
foundest silence, filled me with holy admiration." 
On another occasion he says, " The trees and 
hedges were full. All was hushed when I began ; 
the sun shone brightly, and God enabled me to 
preach for an hour with great power, and so loud 
that all could hear me." No wonder one ex- 
claimed, " The fire is kindled in the country." The 
deep silence of his rude auditors was the first 
proof that he had impressed them ; then he saw the 
white gutters made by the tears which plentifully 
rolled down their blackened cheeks — black as they 
came out of their coal-pits. " The opening firma- 
ment above me," says he, "the prospect of the 
adjacent fields with thousands and thousands in 
view, some in coaches, some on horseback, and 
some in the trees, and at times all affected and 
drenched in tears together — to which sometimes 
was added the solemnity of the approaching even- 
ing — were almost too much for, and quite over- 
came me." 



Whitefield and John Wesley at Bristol. 

Bristol is one of the most ancient and beautiful 
cities in England, and many persons of distinction 
have been born and buried there. It was the 
birthplace of Sebastian Cabot, the femous navi- 
gator, who first discovered the continent of Amer- 
ica, and it was from this port that he sailed on his 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 95 

voyage of discovery. Hannah More, Southey, 
Coleridge, and Chatterton were born in Bristol. 
Bishop Butler, author of the "Analogy," Robert 
Hall, and Captain Thomas Webb, who helped lay 
the foundations of Methodism in America, were 
buried in Bristol. It was near this place that field 
preaching achieved its first grand triumph ; and 
it was here that Wesley built the first Methodist 
chapel in Great Britain, which is still standing in 
its primitive simplicity. Mr. Whitefield, after 
preaching there with great success, sent word to 
John Wesley, who had never been at Bristol, 
requesting him to come there without delay. On 
his arrival Whitefield gave him a hearty welcome, 
and introduced him to persons who were prepared 
to listen to him with most intense interest. " Help, 
Lord Jesus," said Whitefield, " to water what thine 
own right hand has planted, for thy mercy's sake." 
Having provided for so worthy a successor, after 
his splendid triumphs Mr. Whitefield departed, 
amid the sighs and tears of thousands who had 
been blessed by his ministry in that place. 



Kingswood School. 

Whitefield's journey after leaving Bristol lay 
through Kingswood, and there the colliers, without 
his knowledge, had prepared an entertainment for 
him. He had previously preached to them on the 
subject of a school, and being informed they were 
willing to subscribe toward building a charity- 



96 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

school for their children, says it was surprising to 
see with what cheerfulness they parted with their 
money. All seemed willing to assist either by 
their means or their labor, and at this farewell 
visit they entreated that he would lay the first 
stone. The request was somewhat premature, for 
it was not yet certain whether the site they de- 
sired would be granted them. A person, however, 
was present who declared he would give a piece 
of ground in case the lord of the manor should 
refuse, and Whitefield then laid a stone; after 
which he knelt, and prayed God that the gates of 
hell might not prevail against their design, to 
which the colliers responded a hearty Amen ! Such 
was the origin of this famous school. The two 
founders of Methodism united in laying the founda- 
tion of the first Methodist seminary in the world — 
Whitefield laying the foundation, and Wesley 
completing the enterprise which has proved a 
blessing to so many thousands. 



Whitefield and the Church-warden. 

Bigotry is often seen among those who profess 
to be good. The Vicar of Islington had lent 
Whitefield his pulpit, but the Church- warden for- 
bade his preaching there unless he could produce a 
license. This Whitefield interpreted as a manifes- 
tation of the Divine pleasure that he should preach 
in the church-yard, which, as he says, his Master by 
his providence and spirit compelled him to do. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



97 



Moorfields. 

This tract of land, in the suburbs of London, 
was a place for the rabble — for wrestlers, boxers, 
mountebanks, and merry-andrews — where fairs were 
held during the holidays, and where at all times 
the idle, the dissolute, and the reprobate resorted — 
those who were pests of society, and those who were 
being trained up to succeed them in the ways of prof- 
ligacy and wretchedness. It was one of Satan's 
strongholds, and Mr. Whitefield concluded to at- 
tack him there. He needed as much courage as 
did Luther at the Diet of Worms. He was warned 
of his danger, and told that if he attempted to 
preach there he would never come away alive. 
None of these things moved him; onward he 
went with the tread of a conqueror. Matters looked 
forbidding at first, and would have intimidated 
any but a stout heart. The table which had been 
placed for him was broken in pieces by the crowd, 
and he took his stand upon a wall that divided 
the upper and lower Moorfields, and there preached 
without interruption. 

This became his grand battle-ground, where he 
carried the war into the territories of the devil. A 
sea of upturned faces would be gazing upon him as 
he thrilled, captivated, and moved his large audience. 
Here he on a certain occasion took up a collection 
for his Orphan-house, and such influence had he 
over the masses that they readily contributed £52 
19s. and 6d.,of which over £20 were in half-pence. 
In fact, so numerous were the half-pence given him 

1 



98 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

by his poor auditors that he was wearied in receiv- 
ing them, and they were more than one man could 
carry home. 



The Great Field-Day. 

Whitefield's popularity at the time of the inci- 
dent we are about narrating was unbounded, and 
so great was his confidence in his powers over the 
rudest of mankind that he ventured to preach to 
the rabble in Moorfields during the Whitsun holy- 
day, when, as he said, Satan's children kept up 
their annual rendezvous there. It was a sort of 
pitched battle with the Prince of Darkness, and 
Whitefield marshaled his hosts against him, show- 
ing great generalship. 

He began with his praying people at six in the 
morning, before the enemy had mustered his 
strength. Not less than ten thousand persons 
were assembled, waiting for the sports ; and, hav- 
ing nothing else to do, they for mere pastime 
flocked around his field pulpit. " Glad was I," said 
he, "to find that for once I had got the start of the 
devil." Encouraged by the success of his morn- 
ing preaching he ventured there again at noon, 
when, in his own words, " The fields, the whole 
fields, seemed, in a bad sense of the word, all white ; 
ready not for the Redeemer's but Beelzebub's 
harvest. All his agents were in full motion ; drum- 
mers, trumpeters, merry-andrews, masters of pup- 
pet-shows, exhibitors of wild beasts, players, etc., 
etc., all busy in entertaining their respective audi- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 99 



tors.' 7 He estimated the crowd at from twenty to 
thirty thousand, and thinking that, like St. Paul, he 
should now in a metaphorical sense be called to 
fight with wild beasts, he took for his text u Great 
is Diana of the Ephesians." " You may easily 
guess," said he, " that there was some noise among 
the craftsmen, and that I was honored with having 
a few stones, dirt, rotten eggs, and dead cats 
thrown at me while engaged in calling them from 
their favorite but lying vanities. My soul was in- 
deed among lions ; but far the greatest part of my 
congregation, which was very large, seemed for 
awhile to be turned into lambs." Whitefield then 
gave notice he would preach there again at six in 
the evening. " I came," he says, " I saw — but 
what ? Thousands upon thousands more, if pos- 
sible, still more deeply engaged in their unhappy 
diversions, but some thousands among them wait- 
ing as earnestly to hear the Gospel. One of Satan's 
choicest servants was exhibiting, trumpeting on a 
large stage ; but as soon as the people saw me in 
my black robes ascend the pulpit I think all to a 
man left him and ran to me. For awhile I was 
enabled to lift up my voice like a trumpet, and 
many heard the joyful sound. God's people kept 
praying, and the enemy's agents made a kind of 
roaring some distance from our camp. At length 
they approached nearer, and the merry-andrew, at- 
tended by others who complained they had taken 
many pounds less that day on account of my 
preaching, got upon a man's shoulders, and, advanc- 
ing near the pulpit, attempted several times to slash 



iGu The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



me with a long heavy whip, but always, from the 
violence of his motion, tumbled down." Soon after 
they got a recruiting officer, with his drums, fifes, 
and followers, to pass through the congregation. 

But Whitefield by his tactics baffled this ma- 
neuver ; he ordered them to make way for the 
king's officers. The ranks opened, and when the 
party had marched through closed again. When 
the uproar became, as it sometimes did, such as to 
overpower his single voice, he called the voices of 
all his people to his aid, and began singing ; and 
thus, what with singing, praying, and preaching, 
he continued, by his own account, three hours 
upon the ground, till the darkness made it time to 
break up. 

So great was the impression which this wonder- 
ful man produced during this extraordinary scene 
that more than a thousand notes were handed up 
to him from persons who had been awakened that 
day, and three hundred and fifty persons joined 
his congregation. It was a splendid triumph, a 
stupendous victory, and that on the enemy's favor- 
ite ground. Whitefield accomplished more that 
day than some ministers do in a life-time. It is no 
wonder J ohn Angell James, who was a great ad- 
mirer of Mr. Whitefield, sayn, " ]STo such scenes 
have transpired under the preaching of the Gospel 
since the Day of Pentecost under the sermon Peter 
preached as those of Whitefield's great field-day." 
Never had he a grander day. Never did he ex- 
hibit greater heroism. It not only demonstrated his 
courage, but it exhibited his overwhelming elo- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 101 



quence. It showed his tremendous power over 
the masses. Never had the Gospel a more un- 
yielding champion than Whitefield on that famous 
day, and never had it a more splendid triumph. 
Never did he do greater service for his Master, 
or more harm to the kingdom of darkness. It was 
one of the most splendid days of his life. 



Whitefield and the Young Rake. 

Whitefield on the following Tuesday went to 
Marylebone fields, a similar place of resort to 
Moorfields. A Quaker had prepared a very high 
pulpit for him, but, not having fixed the supports 
well in the ground, the preacher found himself in 
some jeopardy, especially when the mob endeav- 
ored to push the circle of his friends against it, and 
so throw it down. But he had a narrower escape 
after he had descended ; " For," says he, " as I 
was passing from the pulpit to the coach I felt my 
wig and hat to be almost off*. I turned about, and 
observed a sword just touching my temples. A 
young rake, as I afterward found, was determined 
to stab me ; but a gentleman, seeing the sword 
thrust near me, struck it up with his cane, and so 
the destined victim providentially escaped." The 
man who made this atrocious attempt was seized 
by the people, and would have been handled as 
severely as he deserved had he not been protected 
by one of Whitefield' s friends, who showed great 
lenity to the young ruffian who had so richlj 
merited a severe punishment. 



102 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and the Impudent Man. 

The next day Whitefield returned to the attack 
in Moorfields, and here he gave a striking exam- 
ple of that ready talent which turns every thing to 
its purpose. A merry-andrew, finding that no 
common acts of buffoonery were of any avail, got 
into a tree near the pulpit, and, as much in spite as 
in insult, exposed his bare posteriors to the preach- 
er in sight of all the people. The more brutal 
mob applauded him with loud laughter, while 
decent persons were abashed, and Whitefield him- 
self was, for a moment, confounded ; but, instantly 
recovering, he appealed to all, since now they had 
such a spectacle before them, whether he had 
wronged human nature in saying with Bishop 
Hall that man when left to himself is half a fiend 
and half a brute ; or in calling him, with William 
Lane, a motley mixture of the beast and devil ! 
The appeal was not lost upon the crowd, if it was 
upon the wretch by whom it was occasioned. 



Whitefield and the Children. 

Whitefield was at times greatly affected, and it 
must have had a powerful effect upon others. Sev- 
eral children, boys and girls, used to sit round 
him on the pulpit while he preached for the pur- 
pose of handing him the notes which were deliv- 
ered by persons who were inquirers of the way of 
salvation. These poor children were exposed to 
all the missiles with which he was assailed ; but 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 103 

however much they were terrified or hurt, they 
never shrank "but on the contrary," says White- 
field, " every time I was struck they turned up 
their little weeping eyes, and seemed to wish they 
could receive the blows for me." 



Whitefield and the Madman. 

There was a young man in London, in 1739, 
named Joseph Periam, who had read Mr. White- 
field's sermon on Regeneration, which had had a 
wonderful influence over him, and his conduct was 
so singular that his family had him sent to Beth- 
lehem mad-house, where he was treated as "Meth- 
odistically mad," and as one of a Whitefield's 
gang." The keepers threw him down, and thrust 
a key into his mouth to make him swallow medi- 
cine. He was then placed in a cold room without 
windows which had a damp cellar under it. The 
young man having sent a letter requesting White- 
field to visit him in the asylum, Whitefield did so, 
and found him sane in mind and healthy in body. 
He then visited his sister, who gave him the three 
following symptoms of her brother's madness : 
First, that he fasted for nearly a fortnight ; sec- 
ondly, that he prayed so loud as to be heard all 
over a house four stories high ; thirdly, that he 
sold his clothes and gave the money to the poor. 
The young man informed Whitefield that under 
his first awakening he had read of a young man 
in the Gospel whom our Lord commanded to sell 
all he had and give the money to the poor ; and, 



104 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



understanding it in a literal sense, he had, out of 
love to Jesus, sold his clothes and given the money 
to the poor. Whitefield, with several other friends, 
went before the hospital committee to explain the 
case, and the doctors told the whole deputation 
frankly that Whitefield and his followers were 
really beside themselves. However, on learning 
that Whitefield was going to Georgia, the com- 
mittee and his friends consented to the release of 
the young man, provided Mr. Whitefield would 
take him with him to his place of destination. He 
consented to accompany Whitefield to America, 
which he did, and made himself very useful there 
as a school-master in the Orphan House, never 
giving any evidence of madness, but sitting at the 
feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind. He 
married one of the matrons of the Orphan House. 
A few years after he and his wife died, leaving two 
orphan boys, who found a home in " Bethesda." 



Whitefield and the Commissary. 

Whitefield on returning, full of life and hope, to 
Charleston, S. C, after a northern tour, was sur- 
prised to find that on account of his field-preaching 
he had lost the friendship of the Rev. Alexander 
Garden, the Commissary at that place, who had 
on one occasion promised to be his faithful friend, 
and said he was ready to defend him with his life 
and fortune. The Commissary kept out of the 
way on Whitefield's arrival, and the Curate said 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 105 

he could not admit Mr. Whitefield to the pulpit- 
while Garden was absent. The people, however, 
had not forgotten him. All the town were clam- 
orous for him to preach somewhere. 'Accordingly 
he accepted invitations to preach in the French 
Church and the Independent Chapel. The congre- 
gations were large and polite, but presented an 
"affected finery and gayety of dress and deport- 
ment which," says Whitefield, " I question if the 
Court End of London could exceed." Before he 
left, however, there was what he called "a glorious 
alteration in the audience." Many wept, and the 
light and airy had a visible concern in their faces. 
Such was their urgency to hear more that they 
won him back from the boat after he had gone to 
the shore to sail for Georgia, and prevailed on 
him to preach again. 



Taking it Coolly. 

In a controversy the man who keeps cool is " mas- 
ter of the situation," ready at all times to seize upon 
the w r eak points of his adversary and confound him. 

Commissary Garden having written Whitefield a 
letter attacking his doctrine of justification, and 
challenging him to defend what he had said con- 
cerning the Bishop of London and his clergy, Mr. 
Whitefield the next day responded thus : " I per- 
ceive you are angry overmuch. Were I never so 
much inclined to dispute I would stay till the cool 
of the day." 



io6 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



The Suspension. 

Mr. Whitefield being summoned by Commissary 
Garden to appear before an ecclesiastical tribunal 
in Charleston did so, and interposed his objections. 
The trial was postponed. He was cited again and 
again to appear, but he paid no attention to the 
summons, being too busily employed. " The 
King's business required haste." The following 
is the account given of the result : 

" The fact of his frequently preaching in Dis- 
senting meeting-houses without using the forms of 
prayer prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer 
being proved by Hugh Anderson, Stephen Hart- 
ley, and John Redman, a final decree, after a full 
recital of all the facts, was pronounced in these 
words : 

" c Therefore we, Alexander Garden, the Judge 
aforesaid, having first invoked the name of Christ, 
and setting and having God himself alone before 
our eyes, and by and with the advice of the rev- 
erend persons — William Guy, Timothy Melli- 
champ, Stephen Roe, and William Orr, with whom 
in that part we have advised and maturely delib- 
erated, do pronounce, decree, and declare the 
aforesaid George Whitefield, clerk, to have been 
at the times articled, and now to be a priest of the 
Church of England, and at the times and days in 
that part articled to have officiated as a minister 
in divers meeting houses in Charles-Town, in the 
province of South-Carolina, by praying and preach- 
ing to public congregations ; and at such times to 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 107 



have omitted to use the form of prayer prescribed 
in the Communion-book, or Book of Common 
Prayer, or at least according to the laws, canons, 
and constitutions ecclesiastical in that part made, 
provided, and promulged, not to have used the 
same according to the lawful proofs before us in 
that part judicially had and made. We, therefore , 
pronounce, iecree, and declare that the said 
George Whitefield, for his excesses and faults 
ought duly and canonically, and according to the 
exigence of the law in that part of the premises, 
to be corrected and punished, and also to be sus- 
pended from his office ; and accordingly by these 
presents we do suspend him, the said George 
Whitefield, and for being so suspended, we also pro- 
nounce, decree, and declare him to be denounced, 
declared, and published openly and publicly in the 
face of the Church.' " 

Mr. Whitefield totally disregarded the trial and 
the suspension, and went forward in his work, 
which was such as angels will applaud and the 
Prince of Peace approve. 



Tit for Tat. 

After the trial Alexander Garden not only wrote 
pamphlets against Mr. Whitefield, but in order to 
counteract his teachings he preached a sermon 
from this text : " These that have turned the 
world upside down have come hither also." Acts 
xvii, 6. The sermon was published. Mr. White- 



io8 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



field replied to it in a sermon from 2 Tim. iv, 14 : 
" Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil ; 
the Lord reward him according to his works." 



The Infamous Libel and the Defense. 

In 1741, while Mr.- Whitefield was waiting at 
Charleston for a vessel in which to sail for En 
gland he received the following notice : 

" To all and singular, the constables of Charleston. 

"Whereas, I have received information on 
oath that George Whitefield, clerk, hath made and 
composed a false, malicious, scandalous, and infa- 
mous libel against the clergy of this province, in 
contempt of his majesty and his laws, and against 
the king's peace ; these are, therefore, in his maj- 
esty's name, to charge and command you, and each 
of you, forthwith to apprehend the said George 
Whitefield and bring him before me, etc., etc., etc. 

" Given under my hand and seal, B. W." 

This mandate referred to a letter which White- 
field had only revised for the press. It was writ- 
ten by one of his friends, and had just come out on 
his arrival at Charleston. The writer was appre- 
hended, and "frankly" confessed that "corrections 
and alterations " had been maile by Whitefield. 

Whitefield' s account of it is that " it hinted that 
the clergy break the canons." If this was all he 
might well write with emphasis in his diary, "I 
think this may be called persecution ! I think it 
is for righteousness' sake." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 109 



He went before the magistrate at once, and gave 
security for appearing, by attorney, under a pen- 
alty of £100 proclamation money. He became 
his own attorney, however, before he left. Even 
next day he preached in the morning upon Her- 
od's stratagem to kill Christ ; in the afternoon on 
the murder of Naboth. That he did not spare 
the persecutors is evident. " My hearers," he says, 
"as well as myself, made application. It was 
pretty close. I especially directed my discourse 
to men in authority, and showed them the heinous 
sin of abusing their power." 



Whitefield and the Noble Minister. 

While in Charleston Mr. Whitefield formed an 
intimate friendship with the Independent minister, 
Josiah Smith, the first native of South Carolina 
who received a literary degree. Smith published 
a remarkable sermon soon after entitled, " The 
Character and Preaching of Whitefield, impartially 
Represented and Supported." Smith's defense 
of Whitefield's doctrine is masterly. His account 
of his manner is exceedingly graphic. " He is," 
says Smith, " certainly a finished preacher. A 
noble negligence ran through his style. The 
passion and flame of his expressions will, I trust, 
be long felt by many. My pen cannot describe 
his action and gestures in all their strength and 
decencies. He appeared to me, in all his dis- 
courses, very deeply affected and impressed in his 



I io The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

own heart. How did that burn and boil within 
him when he spake of the things he had made 
i touching the king ! ' How was his tongue like 
the pen of a ready writer, touched as with a coal 
from the altar ! With what a flow of words, 
what a ready profusion of language, did he speak 
to us upon the great concerns of our souls ! In 
what a flaming light did he set our eternity before 
us ! How earnestly he pressed Christ upon us ! 
How did he move our passions with the constrain- 
ing love of such a Redeemer ! The awe, the 
silence, the attention which sat upon the face of the 
great audience was an argument how he could 
reign over all their powers. Many thought he 
spake as never man spake before. So charmed 
were the people with his manner of address that 
they shut up their shops, forgot their secular busi- 
ness, and laid aside their schemes for the world ; 
and the oftener he preached the keener edge he 
seemed to put upon their desires to hear him 
again. How awfully, with what thunder and 
sound, did he discharge the artillery of heaven 
upon us ! And yet, how could he soften and melt 
even a soldier of Ulysses with the mercy of God ! 
How close, strong, and pungent were his applica- 
tions to the conscience — mingling light and heat ; 
pointing the arrows of the Almighty at the hearts 
of sinners, while he poured in the balm upon the 
wounds of the contrite, and made broken bones 
rejoice. Eternal themes, the tremendous solemni- 
ties of our religion, were all alive upon his tongue. 
So, methinks, if you will forgive the figure, St. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 1 1 1 



Paul would look and speak in a pulpit. In some 
such manner I am tempted to conceive of a seraph, 
were he sent down to preach among us and to 
tell us what things he had seen and heard above. 
How bold and courageous did he look ! He was 
no flatterer ; would not suffer men to settle on their 
lees ; did not prophesy smooth things, nor sew 
pillows. He taught the way of God in truth, and 
regarded not the person of men. He struck at 
the politest and most modish of our vices, and at 
the most fashionable entertainments, regardless of 
every one's presence but His in whose name he 
spake with this authority. And I dare warrant, 
if none should go to these diversions until they 
have answered the solemn questions he put to 
their consciences, our theaters would soon sink and 
perish. I freely own he has taken my heart." 



First Collection in America for the Orphans. 

Whitefield having purchased five hundred acres 
of land about ten miles from Savannah for his 
orphan asylum, and provided for the temporary 
accommodation of the orphans in a hired house, 
took up his first collection in America, in further- 
ance of his noble undertaking, in the meeting-house 
of his friend, Rev. Mr. Smith, in Charleston. The 
amount realized was three hundred and fifty dollars. 
Thus was inaugurated a series of collections which, 
in response to Whitefield's persuasive power, called 
forth the noble generosity of thousands. 



112 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and Dr. Franklin. 

In 1739 Whitefield first arrived in Philadelphia, 
where thrilling incidents occurred and wonderful 
scenes transpired. 

Dr. Franklin, to whom we are indebted for 
many anecdotes of Whitefield, related in his own 
peculiar style, says : " He was at first permitted to 
preach in some of our churches ; but the clergy, 
taking a dislike to him, soon refused him their pul- 
pits, and he was obliged to preach in the fields. 
The multitudes of all sects and denominations that 
attended his sermons were enormous, and it was a 
matter of speculation to me, who was one of the 
number, to observe the extraordinary influence 
of his oratory on his hearers, and how much they 
admired and respected him notwithstanding his 
common abuse of them by assuring them that they 
were naturally half -beasts and half -devils" 



Power of Whitefield's Voice. 

Dr. Franklin says : " Mr. Whitefield had a loud 
and clear voice, and articulated his words so per- 
fectly that he might be heard and understood at a 
great distance, especially as his auditors observed 
the most perfect silence. He preached one even- 
ing from the top of the Court-house steps, which 
arc in the middle of Market-street, and on the 
west side of Second-street, which crosses it at right 
angles. Both streets were filled with hearers to a 
considerable distance, and, being among the hind- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 113 

most in Market-street, I had the curiosity to learn 
how far he could be heard by retiring backward 
down the street toward the river, and I found his 
voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when 
some noise in that street drowned it. Imagine 
then a semicircle, of which my distance should be 
the radius, and that it was filled with auditors, to 
each of whom I allowed two feet square, I com- 
puted that he might well be heard by more than 
30,000. This reconciled me to the newspaper 
accounts of his having preached to 25,000 in the 
fields." 



Effect of Whitefield's Sermons. 

" It was wonderful," says Dr. Franklin, " to see 
the change soon made in the manner of our inhab- 
itants. From being thoughtless or indifferent 
about religion, it seemed as if all the world were 
growing religious, so that we could not walk 
through the town of an evening without hearing 
psalms in different families of every street." 

This is no mean testimony of the power and 
success of Whitefield's preaching in the " City of 
Brotherly Love," when we consider that it came 
from the philosophical and skeptical Franklin. 



The Contrast 

" By hearing Mr. Whitefield often," says Dr. 
Franklin, " I came to distinguish easily between 
sermons newly composed and those which he had 

8 



114 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



often preached in the course of his travels. His 
delivery of the latter were so improved by frequent 
repetition that every accent, every emphasis, every 
modulation of voice, was so perfectly well-turned 
and well-placed that, without being interested in 
the subject, one could not help being pleased with 
the discourse ; a pleasure of much the same kind 
with that received from an excellent piece of 
music. This is an advantage itinerant preachers 
have over those w r ho are stationary, as the latter 
cannot well improve their delivery of a sermon 
by so many rehearsals." 



Whitefield, Franklin, and the Collection. 

Dr. Franklin having ^one on one occasion to 
hear Whitefield preach, and perceiving that he 
meant to conclude with a collection, resolved that 
he should get nothing from him — that he would 
not give a farthing. He says, u I had in my 
pocket a handful of copper money, three or four 
silver dollars, and five pistoles of gold. As he 
proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give 
the copper ; another stroke of his oratory made me 
ashamed of that, and determined me to give the 
silver ; and he finished so admirably that I emptied 
my pocket into the collection dish, gold and all." 
Was ever a greater tribute jjaid to the persuasive 
powers of any man ? Whitefield had equal influ- 
ence over the refined and the uncultivated, and had 
power over men's pockets as w r ell as their hearts. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 115 



Whitefield, Hopkinson, and the Quaker. 

Mr. Hopkinson, the intimate friend of Dr. 
Franklin, was the father of Francis Hopkinson, one 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
and grandfather of Joseph Hopkinson, author of 
our national song, " Hail, Columbia." Dr. Frank- 
lin relates the following anecdote concerning his 
friend Hopkinson, which illustrates Whitefield's 
irresistible powers of oratory. 

Mr. Hopkinson went with Dr. Franklin to hear 
Mr. Whitefield preach, and knowing that a collec- 
tion was to be taken for an object of which he 
did not altogether approve, took the precaution to 
leave his money at home, so that he might be sure 
not to give any thing ; but the eloquent appeals 
of Whitefield so moved and melted him that he 
tried to borrow some money from a Quaker to put 
into the collection. The Quaker in declining 
said, " At any other time, Friend Hopkinson, I 
would lend thee freely, but not now, for thee 
seems to be out of thy right senses." Franklin 
coolly says, " The request was fortunately made, 
perhaps, to the only man in the company who had 
the firm7iess not to be affected by the preacher." 



Whitefield's Honesty. 

Dr. Franklin says : " Some of Mr. Whitefield's 
enemies affected to suppose he applied the collec- 
tions he took up to his own private emolument ; 
but I, who was intimately acquainted with him, 



n6 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

being employed in printing his sermons and jour- 
nals, never had the least suspicion of his integrity ; 
and I am to this day decidedly of the opinion that 
he was, in all his conduct, a perfectly honest man ; 
and, methinks, my testimony ought to have the 
more weight as we had no religious connection. 
He used sometimes to pray for my conversion, but 
never had the satisfaction of having his prayers 
heard. Ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere 
on both sides, and lasted to his death." 



Whitefield Franklin's Guest. 

Whitefield, on one of his arrivals from England, 
wrote from Boston to Dr. Franklin that he ex- 
pected soon to come to Philadelphia, but he knew 
not where he could lodge when there, as his old 
friend and host, Mr. Benezet, had removed to 
Germantown. Dr. Franklin replied thus : " You 
know my house ; if you can make shift with its 
scanty accommodations you will be most heartily 
welcome." Whitefield replied that if Franklin 
had made that kind offer for Christ's sake he 
would not miss of a reward. Dr. Franklin re- 
joined, " Don't let me be mistaken in giving you 
the invitation ; it was not for Christ s sake, but for 
your sakeP 



Franklin, and Whitefield's Works. 

Dr. Franklin was the first publisher of Mr. 
Whitefield's works. In the Pennsylvania Gazette^ 



1 he Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



117 



a paper published by Franklin, appeared the fol- 
lowing notice, Nov. 15, 1739 : 

" The Rev. George Whitefield having given me 
copies of his journals and sermons, with leave to 
print the same, I propose to publish them with all 
expedition if I find sufficient encouragement. The 
sermons will make two volumes, and the journals 
two more, which will be delivered to subscribers at 
two shillings for each volume, bound. Those, 
therefore, who are inclined to encourage this 
work are desired speedily to send in their names 
to me that I may take measures accordingly." 

They were ready for delivery to subscribers in 
May, 1740. 

A copy of Whitefield's Journal in New En- 
gland, published by Franklin, was sold at auction 
in Philadelphia, in 1855, for over thirty times its 
original cost. 



Influence of Whitefield's Works. 

Dr. Franklin says : " Mr. Whitefield's writing 
and printing from time to time gave great advan- 
tage to his enemies. Unguarded expressions, and 
even erroneous opinions delivered in preaching, 
might have been afterward explained or guarded 
by supposing others might have accompanied 
them, or they might have been denied litera 
scripta manet. Critics attacked his writings vio 
lently, and with so much appearance of reason as 
to diminish the number of his votaries and prevent 
their increase ; so that I am satisfied that if he had 



ii8 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



never written any thing he would have left behind 
him a much more numerous and important sec^ 
and his reputation might, in that case, have been 
still growing even after his death. There being, 
then, nothing of his writing on which to found a cen- 
sure, and give him even a lower character, his 
proselytes would be left at liberty to attribute to 
him as great a variety of excellences as their enthu- 
siastic admiration might wish him to have pos- 
sessed." 



Letter from Dr. Franklin to Whitefield. 

The following letter of Franklin to Whitefield is 
rare, and gives us an inside view of the man, and 
of his friendly relation to Mr. Whitefield : 

"Philadelphia. June 6, 1153. 

" Sir : I received your kind letter of the 2d in- 
stant, and am glad to hear that you increase in 
strength. I hope you will continue mending till 
you recover your former health and firmness. 
Let me know whether you still use the cold bath, 
and what effect it has. As to the kindness you 
mention, I wish it could have been of more service 
to you.* But if it had, the only thanks I should 
desire is that you would always be equally ready 
to serve any other person that may need your 
assistance, and so let good offices go round, for 
mankind are all of a family. For my own part, 
when I am employed in serving others I do not 

*Dr. Franklin had relieved Whitefield in a paralytic case 
by the application of electricity. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 119 



look upon myself as conferring favors, but as pay- 
ing debts. In my travels and since my settlement 
I have received much kindness from men to whom 
I shall never have any opportunity of making the 
least direct return ; and numberless mercies from 
God, who is infinitely above being benefited by 
our services. Those kindnesses from men I can, 
therefore, only return on their fellow-men, and I 
can only show my gratitude for those mercies from 
God by a readiness to help his other children and 
my brethren. For I do not think that thanks 
and compliments, though repeated weekly, can 
discharge our real obligations to each other, and 
much less those to our Creator. You will see my 
notion of good works, that I am far from expect- 
ing to merit heaven by them. By heaven we 
understand a state of happiness infinite in degree, 
and eternal in duration. I can do nothing to 
merit such rewards. He that for giving a draught 
of water to a thirsty person should expect to be 
paid with a good plantation would be modest in 
his demands compared with those who think they 
deserve heaven for the little good they do on 
earth. Even the mixed, imperfect pleasures we 
enjoy in this world are rather from God's goodness 
than our merit ; how much more the happiness of 
heaven ! For my part I have not the vanity to 
think I deserve it, the folly to expect it, nor the 
ambition to desire it ; but content myself in sub- 
mitting to the will and disposal of that God who 
made me, who has hitherto preserved and blessed 
me, and in whose fatherly goodness I may well 



120 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



confide, that he will never make me miserable, 
and that even the afflictions I may at any time 
suffer shall tend to my benefit. 

" The faith you mention has certainly its use in 
the world. I do not desire to see it diminished, 
nor would I endeavor to lessen it in any man ; but 
I wish it were more productive of good works 
than I have generally seen it. I mean real good 
works : works of kindness, charity, mercy, and 
public spirit ; no holiday-keeping, sermon-hunting 
or hearing, performing church ceremonies, or 
making long prayers filled with flatteries and 
compliments, despised even by wise men, and 
much less capable of pleasing the Deity. 

w The worship of God is a duty. The hearing 
and reading of sermons may be useful ; but if men 
rest in hearing and reading and praying, as too 
many do, it is as if a tree should value itself on 
being watered and putting forth leaves, though it 
never produced any fruit. Your great Master 
thought much less of these outward appearances 
and professions than many of his modern disciples. 
He preferred the doers of the word to the mere 
hearers ; the son that seemingly refused to obey 
his father, and yet performed his commands, to 
him that professed his readiness, but neglected the 
work; the heretical but charitable Samaritan, to 
the uncharitable though orthodox priest and sanc- 
tified Levite ; and those who gave food to the 
hungry, drink to the thirsty, raiment to the naked, 
entertainment to the stranger, and relief to the 
sick, though they never heard of his name, he de- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 121 



clares shall in the last day be accepted ; when 
those who cry, Lord ! Lord ! who value themselves 
upon their faith, though great enough to perform 
miracles, but have neglected good works, shall be 
rejected. 

" He professed that he came not to call the right- 
teous but sinners to repentance, which implied his 
modest opinion that there were some in his time 
who thought themselves so good that they need 
not hear even him for improvement ; but nowa- 
days we have scarce a little parson that does not 
think it the duty of every man within his reach to 
sit under his petty ministrations, and whoever 
omits them offends God. I wish to such more 
humility, and to you health and happiness ; being 
your friend and servant, B. Franklin." 



Whitefield's Fidelity to Franklin. 

Through the courtesy of a friend we are per- 
mitted to furnish to the reader an original letter 
of Whitefield's never before published. It was 
written to Dr. Franklin when he was in England, 
about a year and a half prior to Whitefield's death. 
Though on business, the writer does not forget the 
interests of eternity. 

"Tottenham Court, Jan. 21, 1768. 
" My dear Doctor : When will it suit you to 
iiave another interview ? The college affair is dor- 
mant. For above a week I have been dethroned 



122 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

by a violent cold and hoarseness. Who but would 
work and speak for God while it is day ! 6 The 
night [of sickness and death] cometh when no man 
can work.' Through rich grace I can sing ' O 
death, where is thy sting ? ' but only through Je- 
sus of Nazareth. Your daughter, I find, is begin- 
ning the world. I wish you joy from the bottom 
of my heart. You and I shall soon go out of it. 
Erf> long we shall see it burst. Angels shall sum- 
mon us to attend on the funeral of time. And (O 
transporting thought !) we shall see eternity rising 
out of its ashes. That you and I may be in the 
happy number of those who, in the midst of the 
tremendous final blaze, shall cry Amen, Halleluiah ! 
is the hearty prayer of, my dear doctor, 

" Yours, etc., etc., G. Whitefield." 

What increases the value of this letter is that it 
is indorsed on the back in Franklin's own hand- 
writing, " Mr. Whitefield." 



Franklin's Tribute to Whitefield. 

In a letter written to a gentleman after White- 
field's death, Dr. Franklin expresses his pleasure 
to see the respect paid to the memory of the de- 
parted Whitefield, and adds, " I knew him inti- 
mately upward of thirty years. His integrity, 
disinterestedness, and indefatigable zeal in prose- 
cuting every good work I have never seen equaled, 
1 shall never see excelled." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators 123 



Whitefield and the Drummer. 

Ir preaching Whitefield was subject to frequent 
interruptions, but was always ready by some witty 
remark or some striking thought to silence disturb- 
ers, confound cavilers, and convince gainsayers. 
His life abounds with such striking incidents. 
The following characteristic anecdote is related on 
the authority of Dr. Franklin. It occurred in or 
near Philadelphia. 

Whitefield was preaching in an open field to an 
immense multitude in his usual eloquent manner, 
when a drummer who "was present was determined 
to interrupt the preacher, and he beat his drum in 
a violent manner in order to drown his voice. 
Whitefield elevated his voice very high, but the 
drummer made more noise than he did. The an- 
noyance was terrible, and likely to destroy the 
effect of the sermon, when Whitefield concluded to 
put an end to it, and, addressing the drummer, said, 
" Friend, you and I serve the two greatest masters 
existing, but in different callings. You beat up 
for volunteers for King George, I for the Lord 
Jesus Christ. In God's name, then, let as not in- 
terrupt each other. The world is wide enough for 
both, and we may get recruits in abundance." 
This ingenuous appeal, showing how well he un- 
derstood human nature, had the desired effect. 
The drum ceased its sound, and the drummer was 
so well pleased with Whitefield's address to him 
that he went away in the best of humor, and left 
the field-preacher alone in his glory. 



124 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and the Young Lady. 

During Mr. Whitefield's first visit to Philadel- 
phia there was a young lady converted who for 
some time had been a professor of religion, but 
who under his preaching was convinced that she 
was a stranger to experimental godliness. She 
was a constant attendant on his ministry, and 
often told her friends that after the first sermon 
she had heard him preach she was ready to say 
with the woman of Samaria, " Come see a man that 
told me all things that ever I did." She said that 
Whitefield so exactly described all the secret work- 
ings of her heart, her wishes, and her actions, that 
she really believed he was either more than human, 
or else he was supernaturally assisted to know her 
heart. So fond of hearing him was this young 
lady that she once walked twenty miles to enjoy 
the privilege, and was amply repaid for her pains. 
She became a distinguished saint, and married a 
man who was also one of the seals of Mr. White- 
field's ministry. For over sixty years she was a 
a bright and shining light." 



Whitefield and the Five-pound Note. 

In reading the account given by Dr. Franklin 
of the extraordinary effect which Whitefield's elo- 
quence produced on him, in drawing from his 
pocket first his coppers, then his silver, and at 
last his gold, we were reminded of a similar anec- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 125 



dote concerning " old Father Flynt," formerly tutor 
of Harvard College. This gentleman was noted 
for his parsimony, and had several times reproved 
the students for attending Whitefi eld's preaching. 
One day he yielded to a request of another officer 
of the college, and went with him to hear White- 
field. There was a collection taken up for the asy- 
lum at the South, and Flynt, being transported 
with his eloquence, unconsciously drew from his 
pocket a bill and dropped it in the box. He in- 
vited his friend back to take tea with him, and on 
the way scarcely opened his mouth. As soon as 
Flynt entered the room he was asked by one of 
the students who boarded with him how he liked 
Mr.Whitefield. "Like him ! " replied Flynt ; " why 
the dog bas robbed me of a five-pound note ! " 



Whitefield and the Philanthropist. 

Anthony Benezet was a native of France, from 
whence he removed to Philadelphia. He was a 
member of the Society of Friends, and a teacher 
of the Friends' school, and afterward of a school 
for the blacks. He was a distinguished philan- 
thropist, and a great friend of the colored race, 
who shared both in his sympathy and his bounty. 

Mr. Benezet was a great admirer of Mr. White- 
field, with whom he was on intimate terms, and he 
had the honor of entertaining him at his house 
when he was in Philadelphia, his parlors witness- 
ing the hearty welcomes the itinerant received. He 



126 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



confessed to Mr. Whitefield with tears that the 
Society of Friends, to which he belonged, were in 
general in a state of carnal security. This stimu- 
lated Whitefield to be very plain and powerful in 
exposing their errors. The consequence was that 
many of the Society of Friends were displeased, 
and forsook him. 

This friend of Whitefield — his host, and the 
friend of humanity — died in 1784, causing great 
mourning and sad lamentation. At his funeral, 
while hundreds of negroes were weeping, an Ameri- 
can officer who witnessed the scene said, " I would 
rather be Anthony Benezet in that coffin than 
George Washington with all his fame." 



Whitefield and the Man at a Distance. 

Much has been said and written about the noble 
voice of Whitefield, and the immense distance it 
could be heard. No wonder it was said that 
" Whitefield had a voice like a lion." It is stated 
that one clear day while preaching in Philadelphia 
he was heard at Gloucester Point, two miles below 
the city, and on the other side of the Delaware. 
He was preaching in England one calm summei 
evening in a meadow on the bank of a river; his 
voice was in perfect order, and it thrilled like a 
trumpet, and, as he repeated his text ever and anon, 
his voice was wafted along the stream, and the 
words were heard by a man working in a field a 
mile or two distant, who knew nothing of White- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 127 

field's preaching, but concluded that it was the 
voice of God speaking to him from heaven. He 
responded to it, and falling on his knees prayed 
for the forgiveness of his sins and for a change of 
heart. Heaven in mercy answered his prayer, and 
he arose a new creature in Christ Jesus. 

+«+ 

Whitefield and the Log College. 

The " Log College " has been immortalized by 
Dr. Archibald Alexander. When Whitefield was 
in Philadelphia in 1789 old Mr. Tennent came to 
visit and to hear him. The " good old man " was 
delighted, and through him Whitefield soon be- 
came acquainted with his son Gilbert. He went 
with Gilbert to Neshaminy, to visit the good old pa- 
triarch and to see the log-house, so like " the school 
of the ancient prophets." In that theological 
seminary, that " Log College," the old father had 
not only trained and educated his four sons for the 
ministry, but also several others, who became in 
time bright and shining lights, among whom were 
Rowland, Campbell, Lawrence, Beatty, Robinson, 
and Blair. Hallowed spot ! Memorable place ! 

Mr. Whitefield was charmed with the scene, and 
predicted the result of the Christian enterprise. 
He said, "The devil will certainly rage against 
the work, but I am persuaded it will not come to 
naught." His prediction was verified ; the devil 
did rage against it, but all in vain. The work had 
the broad-seal of heaven upon it. The " Log Col- 



128 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



lege " gave birth to Nassau Hall, the College at 
Princeton, and its Theological Seminary, institu- 
tions which have been honored of God, are orna- 
ments to our country, a blessing to the Church, the 
nation, and the world. 

On Mr. Whitefield's arrival in Philadelphia in 
1763 he rejoiced to hear that sixteen students had 
been converted the previous year at New Jersey 
College. This was medicine to him for every 
thing but his asthma, with which he was at times 
troubled. This college conferred on Mr. White- 
field the degree of A. M. 



Whitefield and Gilbert Tennent. 

Gilbert Tennent, the oldest son of the old patri- 
arch of whom previous mention has been made, 
settled in New Brunswick, New Jersey. George 
Whitefield and he were kindred spirits. They 
were just the men to meet at that time. Both 
were unboundedly popular, and both had suffered 
persecution. They became as intimate as Jona- 
than and David, and fought heroically side by side 
the battles of the Lord. Whitefield heard him 
preach with profound admiration, declaring that 
he was u a son of thunder who must either convert 
or enrage hypocrites." Again he heard him with 
self-abasement. " Never before," says he, " heard 
I such a searching sermon. He went to the bottom 
indeed, and did not daub with untempered mortar. 
He convinced me more and more that we can 



The Prince of Pidpit Orators. 



129 



preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we 
have experienced the power of it in our own 
hearts. I found what a babe and novice I was in 
the things of God." 

Gilbert Tennent was exceedingly useful in Bos- 
ton, where, through the influence of Aaron Burr, 
then President of Princeton College, he went to 
water the seed which Whitefield had sown there. 
Tie was also very useful in preaching in Philadel- 
phia. Mr. Whitefield corresponded with him, pre- 
pared the way for his going to England to so- 
licit funds for the New Jersey College, cordially 
welcomed him on his arrival, and introduced him 
to his financial friends, who nobly responded to 
his call. 



Whitefield and William Tennent. 

William Tennent was a younger brother of Gil- 
bert, and he was a marked character. He once lay 
in a trance so many days that his friends supposed 
him to be dead, and made preparations to bury 
him. The old house in which he used to preach, 
and where also Whitefield preached, is still stand- 
ing at Freehold, New Jersey, in its primitive sim- 
plicity, and, when visiting there not long since, we 
found the old parsonage, was still standing, 
though greatly dilapidated. We brought away 
a shingle which bears the mark of very great age. 
Not far from the old church the battle of Mon- 
mouth was fought, the church edifice serving at 
the time as a hospital. 

9 



130 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

William Tennent was the intimate friend cf 
Whitefield, and they frequently itinerated togeth- 
er. In 1740 he went to New York to meet Mr. 
Whitefield, and they itinerated on Long Island, 
where Mr. Whitefield preached, but was so ex- 
hausted that his sermon proved something of a 
failure, and, turning to Mr. Tennent and other 
ministers who were present, he exclaimed with 
wonderful emphasis, " that we were all a flame 
of fire 1 " 



Pentecostal Scenes. 

William Tennent and Mr. Whitefield were to- 
gether at Fogg's Manor, when the fires of Pente- 
cost were rekindled, and the scenes of Pentecost 
were re-enacted. 

Whitefield gives the following graphic descrip- 
tion of the scene : " Look where I would, most of 
the audience were drowned in tears. The word 
was sharper than a two-edged sword. Their bitter 
cries and tears were enough to pierce the hardest 
heart. O what different visages were then to be 
seen ! Some were struck as pale as death ; some 
were lying on the ground ; others wringing their 
hands ; others sinking into the arms of their 
friends, and most of them lifting up their eyes to 
heaven, and crying out to God for mercy. I 
could think of nothing when I looked at them so 
much as of the great day. They seemed like per- 
sons awakened by the last trump, and coming out 
of their graves to judgment." In these wonder* 



The Prince of Pulpii Orators. 131 

fully thrilling scenes William Tennent was one of 
the principal actors. Infidels were confounded, 
sinners saved, and God honored. 



Whitefield reproved by Tennent. 

Very singular, very powerful, as well as charac- 
teristic, was the reproof William Tennent gave 
Mr. Whitefield against impatience for his work to 
be done, and a longing for heaven. They were 
dining one day with Governor Livingston, of New 
Jersey, when Mr. Whitefield, exhausted by severe 
labor, expressed a hope that he might soon enter 
into rest, and, turning to Mr. Tennent, he appealed 
to him to know if it were not also his source of 
consolation. Mr. Tennent replied, " What do you 
think I should say if I were to send my man Tom 
into the field to plow, and at noon should find him 
lounging under a tree, complaining of the heat, and 
begging to be discharged from his hard service ? 
What should I say ? Why, that he was an idle, 
lazy fellow, and that his business was to do the 
work I had assigned him." This was a hard re- 
proof, and the " Prince of Pulpit Orators " felt the 
force of the illustration. 



Whitefield and the Infidel. 

Mr. Whitefield was preaching one afternoon in 
Philadelphia against " reasoning unbelievers." 
He had not his usual freedom, and his sermon fell 



132 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

powerless upon the people. An infidel who had 
been one of his auditors was delighted at his fail- 
ure, and said to one of Mr. Whitefield's friends, 
" What ! Mr. Whitefield could not make the peo- 
ple cry this afternoon." u A good reason for it," 
said his friend, " is, that he was preaching against 
deists, and you know they are a hardened gen- 
eration." 



Whitefield and the Deist. 

Mr. Brockden, a lawyer of Philadelphia, eminent 
in his profession, and Recorder of Deeds for that 
city, had for many years been distinguished as a 
deist. Whitefield says : " In his younger days he 
had some religious impressions ; but, going into 
business, the cares of the world choked the good 
seed, so that he not only forgot his God, but at 
length he began to have doubts of, and to dispute, 
his very being. In this state he continued many 
years, and had been very zealous in propagating 
his deistical, I could almost say atheistical, princi- 
ples among moral men. He told me that when I 
was in Philadelphia a year before he had not had 
sufficient curiosity to come and hear me, but on 
this occasion, a brother deist having pressed him, 
he, after much persuasion, complied. I preached 
at the Court-house stairs upon the conference 
which the Lord had with Nicodemus. I had not 
spoken much before the Lord struck his heart. 
4 For,' said he, 6 I saw your doctrine tended to 
make people £^>od.' His family knew nothing of 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



133 



Tiis having been present, and when he went home 
his wife, who had also heard the sermon, came in 
and said that she heartily wished that be had 
heard me, to which he made no response. Shortly- 
after another member of the family coming in 
expressed the same wish, and then another, till, 
alas ! being unable to refrain any longer, he, with 
tears in his eyes, said, 6 Why, I have been hearing 
him,' and then expressed his approbation. Ever 
since he has followed on to know the Lord, and 
Jesus was made manifest to his soul. Though 
upward of threescore years of age, he is now, I be- 
lieve, born of God ! He is as a little child, and 
often, as he tells me, receives such communications 
from God when he retires into the woods that he 
thinks he could die a martyr for the truth." 
What a wonderful change ! What a transforma- 
tion ! 



Whitefield a Merchant. 

There is such a thing as spiritual merchandise. 
Solomon says, in regard to wisdom, " The mer- 
chandise of it is better than the merchandise of 
silver ; and the gain thereof, than fine gold." Mr. 
Whitefield, on one occasion while preaching in 
Philadelphia, cried out in the midst of the sermon, 
" I am going to turn merchant to-day. I have 
valuable commodities to offer for sale, but I say 
not, as your merchants do, If you will come up to 
my price I'll sell to you ; but, If you will come 
down to my prise; for if you have a farthing to 



134 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

bring you cannot be a purchaser," They were 
urged to " buy the truth ;" to " buy wine and milk 
without money and without price." 

"See from the Rock a fountain rise; 

For you in healing streams it rolls ; 
Money ye need not bring, nor price, 

Ye lab'ring, burdened, sin-sick souls." 

During the sermon a broken-hearted man took 
courage, and his language was, 

44 In my hands no price I bring \ 
Simply to the cross I cling." 

He bought without money and without price, 
and returned home in possession of true riches. 



Woman's Preaching. 

Mr. Whitefield announced one day in Philadel- 
phia to his audience, " I am going to set a woman 
to preach to you to-day." While the people were 
waiting with breathless anxiety to see a woman 
come forward and address them from the platform, 
Mr. Whitefield, to their great surprise, exclaimed, 
" She is a Samaritan, and she says, ' Come, see a 
man that told me all things that ever I did. Is 
not this the Christ ? ' " 



No Sects in Heaven. 

Mr. Whitefield on one occasion was preaching in 
Market-street, Philadelphia, from the balcony of 
the Ccurt-house, w f hen suddenly he cried out, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



135 



" Father Abraham, whom have you in heaven ? 
Any Episcopalians ? " " No." " Any Presby- 
terians ? " "No." "Have you any Independ- 
ents or Seceders?" "No." "Have you any 
Methodists there? " "No, no, no." " Whom have 
you there ? " " We don't know those names here. 
All who are here are Christians — believers in 
Christ — men who have overcome by the blood of 
the Lamb and the word of his testimony." " O, 
is this the case ?" said Whitefield ; " then God 
help me, God help us all, to forget party names, 
and to become Christians in deed and in truth ! " 



The Aged Disciples. 

Mr. Whitefield was a kind of John the Baptist 
in preparing the way for those who were to come 
after him. He was a pioneer for the Wesley an 
Methodist preachers. When he preached at Quan- 
tico, Maryland, many were converted under his 
ministry, among others a family by the name of 
Rider. Years after this family heard the Rev. 
Freeborn Garrettson preach, and they were much 
affected. After the sermon they approached Mr. 
Garrettson with tears, and Mrs. Rider said to him, 
" Many years ago we heard Mr. Whitefield preach, 
and were brought to taste the sweetness of relig- 
ion ; but previous to hearing you, we had not 
listened to a Gospel sermon for about twenty 
years. The first time I heard you preach I knew 
it was the truth, but I had only a little spark left. 



136 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Yesterday we heard you again, and the little spaik 
was blown into a coal, and, glory to God ! the 
coal is blown into a flame. We cannot hide our- 
selves any longer from you. Our house and our 
hearts are open to receive you and the blessed 
word you preach." Mr. Garrettson accepted the 
invitation, went to their house and preached. He 
found many in the place ripe for the Gospel. A 
gracious revival followed, and many were convert- 
ed ; a society was formed, and she who so many 
years before had been one of Mr. Whitefield's 
hearers and converts became a pillar in the socie- 
ty, a " mother in Israel," and a mother to tho 
preachers. 

How true it is that one soweth and another 
reapeth ; and the time is coming when the sower 
and the reaper shall overtake each other and 
rejoice together! 



Whitefield and the Young Burglar. 

There are prodigies of mercy, miracles of grace, 
as the following incident serves to show. 

A young man by the name of Bedgood, young 
in years but old in iniquity, an apt scholar in the 
school of vice, and whose associates were of a 
similar class, was, with one of his companions, sud- 
denly cut short in his career of sin by being ar- 
rested for burglary. For this crime they were 
tried at Gloucester, convicted, and condemned tc 
die. While under sentence of death the Rev. Mr 
Bretherton visited them, and the dark mind o 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 137 



young Bedgood becoming enlightened, he became 
a true penitent. His young companion in crime 
suffered death, but his punishment was changed 
to fourteen years' transportation to America. After 
his arrival on this continent he often had the privi- 
lege of attending the ministry of Whitefield, and 
under it he was converted to God. He was an- 
other seal of Whitefield' s ministry. Through him 
the prodigal was brought home. Tremendous 
change ! The prisoner was made free, the exile 
brought back to his father's house. Feeling it his 
duty to preach deliverance to the captives, his 
spiritual father, Mr. Whitefield, prepared the way 
for his entrance into the ministry. He was settled 
in Charleston, S. C, as Pastor for several years, 
and the Church greatly prospered under him. He 
was humble, earnest, eloquent, and successful. He 
enjoyed the friendship and society of Mr. White- 
field when he was in America, and often corre- 
sponded with Mr. Bretherton, who had been to 
him an angel of mercy, visiting him in prison, 
pouring light into his dark mind, and reaching out 
the hand that providentially rescued him from 
ruin. 



Whitefield and the Devil. 

Mr. Whitefield, having delivered a discourse of 
rare beauty and eloquence in the city of Charles- 
ton, had just retired from the pulpit and was wend- 
ing his way out of the church, when he met an 
acquaintance in the aisle, who, shaking him cor- 



138 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

dially by the hand, congratulated him on the 
splendid effort he had just made, saying, " Brother 
Whitefield, you have preached a most eloquent 
discourse. I was highly delighted." Whitefield, 
instead of being in the least elated, replied in the 
most solemn and impressive manner, "Ah, brother, 
there is one in advance of you, for the devil told 
me so before I left the pulpit." 



Not a Single Plank. 

There is a great difference in the ability of min- 
isters to secure the attention and interest of their 
auditors. Some succeed in pretty effectually mes- 
merizing and putting them to sleep ; others will 
manage to keep them awake, but not particularly 
interested. During the preaching of some their 
hearers will be listless and inattentive, while others 
will secure attention from the time they utter the 
first word until the conclusion of their remarks. 

Mr. Whitefield knew right well how to secure 
the undivided attention of his hearers. The fol- 
lowing is a good illustration. 

A ship-builder was asked what he thought of 
Mr. Whitefield's preaching. " Think ! " he replied. 
" I tell you, sir, that every Sunday I go to my par- 
ish church I can build a ship from stem to stem 
under the sermon, but were it to save my soul I 
could not under Mr. Whitefield's preaching lay a 
single plank." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 139 



Whitefield and the Doomed Village. 

There is a beautiful village in New England 
from which Whitefield was driven with such 
shameful abuse that he shook the dust from his 
feet as a testimony against them. He then turned 
prophet, and uttered the fearful prediction that the 
Spirit of God would not visit that place till the 
last of those persecutors was dead. How they 
might have prayed in poetic language, 

" Stay, thou insulted Spirit, stay, 

Though I have done thee such despite ; 

Nor cast the sinner quite away, 
Nor take thine everlasting flight ! " 

How true the language of the Saviour : " He that 
despiseth you despiseth me, and he that despiseth 
me despiseth him that sent me." It is a fearful 
thing to grieve the Holy Spirit, to treat with con- 
tempt an embassador of Christ ! 

Mr. Whitefield's terrible prediction was fulfilled. 
The village seemed to suffer under the influence 
of a moral paralysis. Its inhabitants became 
twice dead, plucked up by the roots. For nearly 
a century they fed on the unwholesome food of a 
strange doctrine. The place was the very garden 
of natural loveliness, and yet in its moral aspect 
was like a heath or desert upon which for a long 
season no dew nor gentle rain had fallen. It was 
not till that whole generation had passed away 
that Zion awoke " and put on strength, and put on 
her beautiful garments." 



140 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield, his Friend, and the Idol. 

Mr. Whitefield, in order to show the folly of mak- 
ing idols of our children, and the transient nature 
of all the joys of earth, related the following inci- 
dent : He had a friend in London who was dotingly 
fond of his children, one of whom he completely 
idolized. Mr. Whitefield noticed his exceeding 
fondness for his pet, and when he was in Georgia 
wrote a letter to the fond father beginning with 
this sentence, " Is your idol dead yet ? " The rea- 
son of his making this singular inquiry was his 
belief that it was such an idol it could not long be 
retained — that the flower would probably wither, 
that the lamb would be sacrificed. When Mr. 
Whitefield returned to London he saw the father 
of the child, w^ho told him that the day before the 
receipt of Mr. Whitefield's letter from America 
making inquiry concerning his idol, the child had 
died — the dear idol had been torn from him. He 
stated that the child had suffered such pain, such 
indescribable agony, that he would rather himself 
have endured a thousand deaths than that his dar- 
ling should so suffer ; and, in order to end those 
sufferings, he had been obliged to go to the Lord 
and beseech him to take his dear child away. 



The Vane and the Compass. 

Whitefield during the year 1745 spent several 
days in Ipswich, Mass. The Rev. Mr. Pickering 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 141 



refused to admit him to his pulpit, giving his rea- 
sons for so doing in a published letter. Mr. 
Whitefield, in a reply he made to a pamphlet of 
the Bishop of London on the " Enthusiasm of the 
Methodists," had said that " all ought to be thank- 
ful for a pilot who will teach them to steer a safe 
and middle course." Mr. Pickering, in his reply to 
Mr. Whitefield's request for the use of his pulpit, 
quotes this expression, and shrewdly inquires, 
" But what if the pilot should mistake the vane 
for the compass ? " 



Whitefield and the Trumpeter. 

Mr. Whitefield was persecuted in America as 
well as in Europe, and often the lion was changed 
into a lamb, as in the following instance. 

A black trumpeter, belonging to an English 
regiment, resolved to interrupt him while deliver- 
ing an expected discourse in the open air. At the 
hour appointed for the sermon he repaired to the 
field where it was to be preached, carrying his 
trumpet with him, on purpose to blow it with all 
his might about the middle of the sermon. He 
took his stand in front of the minister, and at no 
great distance. The concourse that attended be- 
came very great, and those who were toward the 
extremity of the crowd pressed forward in order to 
hear more distinctly, and caused such a pressure 
at the place where the trumpeter stood that he 
found it impossible to raise up his arm which held 



142 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

the trumpet at the time he intended to blow it. 
He attempted to extricate himself from the crowd, 
but found this equally impossible, so that he was 
kept within hearing of the Gospel as securely as if 
he had been chained to the spot. In a short time 
his attention was arrested, and he became so pow- 
erfully affected by what the preacher presented to 
his mind that he was seized with an agony of de- 
spair, and was carried to a house in the neighbor- 
hood. When the service was over he was visited 
by Mr. Whitefield, who tendered some seasonable 
counsels, and the poor trumpeter from that time 
became an altered character. 



Shrewd Reply. 

On Whitefield's arrival in Boston, where he had 
not yet preached, he met, while walking through 
the streets, a famous Doctor of Divinity, who not 
only had a deep-seated prejudice against him, but 
was also his enemy. Recognizing each other at 
once, the doctor remarked, 44 1 am sorry to see you 
here." Whitefield replied, " And so is the devil." 



Whitefield and the Inquiring Woman. 

Whitefield had just finished a sermon. in New 
England when a woman said to him, u Mr. White- 
field, what do you think of Cotton Mather and 

Mr. ? [another minister whom she named.] 

One of them said I ought to receive the sacra- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 143 

ment before my experience was given in, and the 
other said not ; and I believe the angels were 
glad to carry them both to heaven." Mr. White- 
field replied, " Good woman, I believe they have 
never talked about it since, for they will no more 
talk about those things." How inquisitive some 
people are ! How ingeniously he answered the 
query of this inquiring woman ! 



Whitefield and the Wit. 

When Whitefield visited Boston, in 1774, a 
number were converted ; among others a man of 
brilliant wit and racy humor, who delighted to 
preach over a bottle to his boon * companions 
Having gone to hear Whitefield in order to get 
up a new " tavern harangue," and having, as he 
thought, heard enough of the sermon for his pur- 
pose, he was about leaving the church for the inn, 
when " he found his endeavors to get out fruitless, 
being so pent up." While thus fixed, and waiting 
for " fresh matter of ridicule," he was arrested by 
the power of the Gospel. That night he went to 
Mr. Prince, a preacher in Boston, full of horror, 
and earnestly desiring to beg Mr. Whitefield's 
pardon. Mr. Prince encouraged him to visit Mr. 
Whitefield. He did so with fear and trembling. 
Whitefield says of him, " By the paleness, pensive- 
ness, and horror of his countenance, I guessed he 
was the man of whom I had been apprised. ' Sir, 
can you forgive ? ' he cried in a low but plaintive 



144 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 

voice. I smiled, and said, c Tes, sir, very readily.' 
' Indeed, you cannot,' he said, 1 when I tell you 
all.' I then asked him to sit down ; and, judging 
that he had sufficiently felt the lash of the law, I 
preached to him the Gospel. The man was con- 
verted, and consecrated his wit, genius, and talents 
to God." This and other remarkable conversions 
gave to Mr. Whitefield's preaching in Boston in- 
creased power and influence. 



The Sleeper. 

Many were skeptical as to the great pulpit pow- 
ers of WMtefield ; but when listening to his organ- 
like voice and impressive appeals, their skepticism 
soon vanished. This was the case with a young 
student in the New Jersey College, who, having 
heard that Whitefield was to preach near Prince- 
ton, and being very anxious to hear and judge for 
himself whether he was really entitled to the 
celebrity he enjoyed, went to hear him. 

It was a rainy day, and the audience was small. 
The preacher, accustomed to addressing thousands, 
did not feel his powers called forth as at other 
times. The young man at first was disappointed, 
and concluded that Whitefield's powers had been 
overrated. When he was about one third through 
with his discourse the young man said to himself, 
"This man is not so great a wonder after all — 
quite commonplace and superficial — nothing but 
show, and not a great deal of that." Looking 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 145 



around upon the audience he saw that they looked 
about as disinterested as usual, and that the old 
father, who always sits directly in front of the 
pulpit, and always goes to sleep after hearing the 
text and plan of the sermon, was enjoying his 
accustomed nap. Just then Whitefield suddenly 
paused ; his face went rapidly through many 
changes, till finally it looked more like a rising 
thunder-cloud than any thing else ; and, beginning 
very deliberately, he said, " If I had come to speak 
to you in my own name you might rest your 
elbows upon your knees and your heads upon your 
hands and go to sleep, once in a while looking up 
and muttering, 'What does this babbler say?' 
But I have not come to you in my own name ; no, 
I have come to you in the name of the Lord God 
of hosts, and " (here he brought down his hand and 
foot at once, so as to make the whole house ring) 
"I must and will be heard." Every one in the 
house started, the old father, who always slept, 
among the rest. " Aye, aye," continued the preach- 
er, looking at the old father, " I have waked you 
up, have I ? I meant to do it. I have not come 
here to preach to stocks and stones ; I have come 
to you in the name of the Lord God of hosts, and 
I must and will be heard." The old father's slum- 
ber was at an end, the congregation fully aroused, 
and the remaining part of the sermon produced a 
powerful effect. 

The young man came away satisfied that the tal- 
ents of Whitefield as a pulpit orator had not been 
overrated. 

10 



146 The Prime of Pulpit Orators. 



Splendid Retort. 

Whitefield knew right well how to retort upon 
an adversary. He might be sharp, but Whitefield 
was a little sharper. He well understood when 
and how to answer a fool according to his folly. 

Being in Philadelphia on a certain occasion, he 
was obliged not only to repel the charge of Anti- 
nomianism, but also that of false zeal. He went 
to church to listen to a sermon, and heard the min- 
ister make a rude attack upon him. The clergy- 
man took for his text, " I bear them record that 
they have a zeal for God, but not according to 
knowledge." Then came the charge against 
Whitefield, at whom he fired his heavy guns. But 
he expended his ammunition in vain. 

The text proved a most unfortunate selection for 
his accuser, for Whitefield, while preaching in the 
evening before an audience of twenty thousand, 
turned the context upon him with tremendous point 
and power, saying, " I could have wished the preacher 
this morning had considered the next words, 6 For 
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and 
going about to establish their own righteousness, 
have not submitted themselves unto the righteous- 
ness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for 
righteousness to every one that believeth.'" Rom. 
x, 3, 4. Truth prevailed ; the word of God was 
vindicated. Multitudes were the seals to his min- 
istry under that sermon. That night fifty negroes, 
besides many others, came to tell Whitefield 
" what God had done for their souls." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 14 J 

Whitefield and the Lantern Boy. 

Whitefield often stood on the outside steps of 
the Court-house in Philadelphia, and preached to 
thousands who crowded the streets below. On 
one of these occasions a youth pressed as near to 
his favorite preacher as possible, and, to testify his 
respect, held a lantern for his accommodation. 
Soon after the sermon began he became so absorbed 
in the subject that the lantern fell from his hand 
and was dashed to pieces, and that part of the 
audience in the immediate vicinity of the speaker's 
stand was not a little discomposed by the occur- 
rence. 

Some years after, Mr. Whitefield, in the course 
of his fifth visit to America, about the year 1754, 
on a journey from the southward, called at St. 
George's, in Delaware, where Mr. Rodgers was 
then settled in the ministry, and spent some time 
with him. In the course of this visit Mr. Rodgers, 
riding one day with his visitor in a close carriage, 
asked him whether he recollected the occurrence 
of the little boy who was so much affected with 
his preaching as to let the lantern fall. Whitefield 
answered, " O yes, I remember it well, and have 
often thought I would give any thing in my power 
to know who that little boy was, and what had 
become of him." Mr. Rodgers replied with a 
smile, "I am that little boy." Mr. Whitefield, 
with tears of joy, started from his seat, clasped 
him in his arms, and with strong emotion re- 
marked that he was the fourteenth person then in 



148 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



the ministry whom he had discovered in the course 
of that visit to America of whose hopeful conver- 
sion he had been the instrument. 



The Mimic and the Drinking Club. 

A negro boy who attended to the wants of the 
members of a drinking club in Delaware, and who, 
for the diversion of its members, would at times 
mimic various persons, was asked to mimic White- 
field, which he for a time positively refused to do ; 
but they insisting, he suddenly rose, and in a most 
impressive and striking manner said, " I speak the 
truth in Christ. I lie not. Except ye repent you 
will all be damned." It was like an earthquake 
shock — like a thunder-clap in a clear sky. The 
speech was so sudden, so unexpected, and so 
marked in its effects, that the club was disbanded 
and never met afterward. 



Whitefield's Attempt at Courtship. 

Marriage is said by St. Paul to be honorable in 
all. Mr. Whitefield had not much time to devote 
to courtship, nor to a wife after having obtained 
one ; but the time came when he thought it not 
good for him to be alone, and he desired a " help- 
mate," and he wrote to the parents of a young 
lady one of the most singular letters ever written 
or ever read. We wonder not that his application 
was a failure. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



149 



LETTER TO THE PARENTS. 

" On board the Savannah, bound to Philadelphia from 
Georgia, April 4, 1 740. 

" My dear Friends : I find by experience that 
a mistress is absolutely necessary for the due man- 
agement of my increasing family, and to take off 
some of that care which at present lies upon me. 
Besides, I shall in all probability, at my next re 
turn from England, bring more women with me ; 
and I find, unless they are all truly gracious, (or 
indeed if they are,) without a superior, matters 
cannot be carried on as becometh the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ. It hath been, therefore, much im- 
pressed upon my heart that I should marry, in 
order to have a helpmate for me in the work 
whereunto our dear Lord Jesus hath called me. 
This comes (like Abraham's servant to Rebekah's 
relations) to know whether you think your daugh- 
ter, Miss E., is a proper person to engage in such 
an undertaking. If so, whether you will be pleased 
to give me leave to propose marriage unto her? 
You need not be afraid of sending me a refusal ; 
for I bless God, if I know any thing of my own 
heart, I am free from that foolish passion which 
the world calls love. I write only because I be- 
lieve it is the will of God that I should alter my 
state ; but your denial will fully convince me that 
your daughter is not the person appointed by God 
for me. He knows my heart ; I would not marry 
but for him, and in him, for ten thousand worlds. 
But I have sometimes thought Miss E. would be 
my helpmate, for she has often been impressed on 



150 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

my heart. I should think myself safer in your 
family, because so many of you love the Lord 
Jesus, and consequently would be more watchful 
over my precious and immortal soul. After strong 
crying and tears at the throne of grace for direc- 
tion, and after unspeakable troubles with my own 
heart, I write this. Be pleased to spread the letter 
before the Lord, and, if you think this motion to be 
of him, be pleased to deliver the inclosed to your 
daughter ; if not, say nothing, only let me know 
you disapprove of it, and that shall satisfy, dear 
sir and madam, 

" Your obliged friend and servant in Christ, 
" George Whitefield." 

letter to the daughter. 

The letter to the daughter was as curious as 
that to the parents. Whitefield was awkward at 
courting, and lie did not understand writing love- 
letters. Such letters would never win the heart 
of any intelligent young lady. It shows the purity 
of his heart more than the wisdom of his head. It 
shows his artless simplicity — that he was perfectly 
transparent. 

" On board the Savannah, April 4, 1740. 
" Be not surprised at the contents of this ; the 
letter sent to your honored father and mother will 
acquaint you with the reasons. Do you think you 
could undergo the fatigues that must necessarily 
attend being joined to one who is every day liable 
to be called out to suffer for the sake of Jesus 
Christ ? Can you bear, to leave your father and 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 151 

kindred's house, and to trust on Him who feedeth 
the young ravens that call upon him for your own 
and children's support, supposing it should please 
him to bless you with any ? Can you bear the 
inclemencies of the air, both as to cold and heat, 
in a foreign climate ? Can you, when you have a 
husband, be as though you had none, and willingly 
part with him, even for a long season, when his 
Lord and Master shall call him forth to preach the 
Gospel, and command him to leave you behind? 
If, after seeking to God for direction, and search- 
ing your heart, you can say, c I can do all these 
things, through Christ strengthening me,' what if 
you and I were joined together in the Lord, and 
you came with me, at my return from England, to 
be a helpmate for me in the management of the 
orphan house ? I have great reason to believe it 
is the divine will that I should alter my condition, 
and have often thought you were the person ap- 
pointed for me. I shall still wait on God for 
direction, and heartily entreat him that if this 
motion be not of him it may come to naught. 1 
write thus plainly, because I trust I write nol 
from any other principles but the love of God. I 
shall make it my business to call on the Lord Je- 
sus, and would advise you to consult both him and 
your friends ; for, in order to obtain a blessing, we 
should call both the Lord Jesus and his disciples 
to the marriage. I much like the manner of 
Isaac's marrying with Rebekah, and think no 
marriage can succeed well unless both parties con- 
cerned are like-minded with Tobias and his wife, 



152 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



I think I can call the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob to witness that I desire 'to take you, my 
sister, to wife, not for lust, but uprightly,' and 
therefore I hope he will mercifully ordain, if it be 
his blessed will we should be joined together, that 
we may walk as Zachary and Elizabeth did, in all 
the ordinances of the Lord blameless. I make no 
great profession to you, because I believe you 
think me sincere. The passionate expressions 
which carnal courtiers use I think ought to be 
avoided by those who marry in the Lord. I can 
only promise, by the help of God, 4 to keep my 
matrimonial vow, and to do what I can toward 
helping you forward in the great work of your sal- 
vation.' If you think marriage will be any way 
prejudicial to your better part, be so kind as to 
send me a denial. I would not be a snare to you 
for the world. Tou need not be afraid of speak- 
ing your mind. I trust I love you only for God, 
and desire to be joined to you only by his com- 
mand, and for his sake. With fear and much 
trembling I write, and shall patiently tarry the 
Lord's leisure till he is pleased to incline you, dear 
Miss E., to send an answer to 

" Your affectionate brother, friend, and servant 
in Christ, G. Whitefield." 



Whitefield and his Wife. 

Whitefield received no favorable answer from 
the young lady whose hand he had solicited. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 153 

Still feeling it his duty to marry, he the following 
year (1741) was united in matrimony to a Mrs. 
James in Wales. She was a widow, ten years 
older than himself. Washington, John Wesley, 
and Whitefield married widows. The marriage 
of Whitefield has been represented as unhappy, 
like John Wesley's, but this appears to be a mis- 
take. He always spoke of his wife in the highest 
terms, and he speaks well of her piety. He wrote 
to Gilbert Tennent with reference to his marriage, 
saying that Mrs. Whitefield, " although not rich 
in fortune nor beautiful in person, was a true child 
of God," and who would not " for the world hin- 
der him in God's work." To another American 
friend he writes, " The Lord has given me a daugh- 
ter of Abraham." He speaks of her in the most 
endearing manner as his " dear partner," his " dear 
fellow-pilgrim," his "dear yoke-fellow." She must 
have been quite a heroine. At one time when he was 
preaching the mob rallied, stones flew, and, being 
in great danger, he began to have fears. His wife, 
who was standing behind him, pulled his gown, 
and said, " Kow, George, play the man for God." 
This inspired him with more than mortal strength, 
the enemy retreated, and victory was proclaimed 
on the Lord's side. Again, in 1744, when they 
were on board the ship Wilmington, bound for 
America, and were about to be attacked by an 
enemy's vessel, he says, " All except myself seemed 
ready for fire and smoke. My wife, after having 
dressed herself to prepare for all events, set about 
making cartridges, while the husband wanted to 



154 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



go into the hold of the ship, hearing that was the 
chaplain's usual place." 

He writes to one not " to forget his widow-wife. 
Blessed be God, her Maker is her husband, and 
ere long we shall sit down together at the mar- 
riage-supper of the Lamb." Again, in 1768, he 
writes to a friend, " My wife is as well as can be 
expected. Both of us are descending in order to 
ascend 

Where sin, and pain, and sorrow cease, 
And all is calm, and joy, and peace.' " 

She died in 1768, two years before her husband, 
and Whitefield preached her funeral sermon, and 
praised her many virtues. He very soon joined 
her where " they neither marry nor are given in 
marriage," but are equal to the angels of God. It 
was a custom in those days for one relative to 
preach the funeral sermon of another. John Wes- 
ley preached his mother's, Whitefield his wife's, 



Whitefield and the Bishop of Gloucester. 

The Bishop of Gloucester had sent a letter to 
Mr. Whitefield, saying that he ought only to 
preach in that congregation to which he was 
lawfully appointed. The Bishop cautioned him 
against acting contrary to the commission given 
him at his ordination. Mr. Whitefield in his reply 
said, " Then all persons act contrary to their corn- 
mission when they preach occasionally in a strange 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 155 



place, and consequently your lordship equally of- 
fends when preaching out of your own diocese." 



Inveighing Against the Clergy Without a Cause. 

This was one of the charges the Bishop brought 
against him. Mr. Whitefield in his reply denied 
the charge, saying, " Let those that bring reports 
to your lordship about my preaching be brought 
face to face, and I am ready to give them an 
answer. St. Paul exhorts Timothy 'not to re- 
ceive an accusation against an elder under two or 
three witnesses ;' and even Nicodemus could say, 
'The law suffered no man to be condemned un- 
heard.' I shall only add that I hope your lordship 
will inspect into the lives of your other clergy, and 
censure them for being over-remiss as much as you 
censure me for being over-righteous. . . . As for 
declining the work in which I am engaged, my 
blood runs chill at the very thought of it. I am 
convinced that it is as much my duty to act as I 
do, as that the sun shines at noonday. I can fore- 
see the consequences very well. They have al- 
ready in one sense thrust us out of the synagogues. 
By and by they will think they are doing God's 
service to kill us. But, my lord, if you and the 
Bishops cast us out, our great and common Master 
will take us up. Though all men deny us, yet will 
not he. In patience, therefore, do I possess my 
soul. I willingly tarry the Lord's leisure." 



^56 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Queries and Scruples. 

A pamphlet against Mr. Whitefield with the 
above singular title was published by some one 
who professed to be of the Presbyterian persua- 
sion. Whitefield in replying, having a suspicion 
as to who the author was, says, " I think I may 
say with David, though on a different occasion, 
4 Joab's hand is in this.' If your ministers were 
really the authors, and you only their representa- 
tives, they have not acted wisely. They had bet- 
ter have spoken out. I should have as readily 
answered them as you. Solomon says, 'He that 
hateth reproof is brutish.' And if I know any 
thing of my own heart, I should think myself 
obliged to any one that convinced me of an error 
either in principle or practice." 

Whitefield candidly answers their queries and 
scruples, and as they found fault with him for 
preaching extemporaneously, he says, " Do not 
condemn me for preaching extempore, and for say- 
ing I am helped often immediately in that exercise, 
when thousands can prove as well as myself that 
it is so. Neither should you censure me as one 
who would lay aside reading. I am of Bishop 
Sanderson's mind : c Study without prayer is athe- 
ism, prayer without study presumption.' " He says 
he cannot disapprove of those who exclaim against 
dry, sapless, unconverted ministers. Such surely 
are the bane of the Christian Church. He omits 
some of the latter part of their queries for their 
own and not for his sake. " I hope," says he, " I 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 157 

can say with more sincerity than Hazael, c Is thy 
servant a dog ' that he should do what you sug- 
gest ? " He wishes that those who advised them to 
publish their queries had also cautioned the writer 
against dipping his pen in so much gall. u Surely 
your insinuations," he says, " are contrary to that 
charity which hopeth and believeth all things for 
the best." Thus with great wit and superior skill 
did Whitefield answer the queries and scruples of 
carping critics. 



"The Bold, Importunate Beggar." 

In a pamphlet published in 1742, entitled " The 
State of Religion in New England since the Rev. 
George Whitefield arrived there," he is severely 
attacked. In his reply he says, "I think the con- 
tents in no way answer to the title-page. It rather 
ought to be entitled 4 The State of Religion Falsely 
Stated.' " His answer is a masterpiece. The au- 
thor calls Whitefield " a bold and importunate 
beggar." Whitefield replies, " I acknowledge I 
learned that from the wise man, who tells me, 
' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might and from the Apostle Paul, who, in his 
Second Epistle to the Corinthians (vii, 9) says, c For 
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became 
poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich,' 
and who here shows himself to be the most bold, 
insinuating, and importunate beggar for pious uses 
that I ever met with." 



158 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



The Young Mimic. 

In the early part of 1756 an instance of conver- 
sion occurred by a singular process in connection 
with, though not an immediate consequence of, 
Whitefield's preaching. While at Rotherham, in 
Yorkshire, his endeavors to propagate divine 
knowledge we're treated with contempt, and ma- 
licious falsehoods were circulated to counteract the 
good effects of his ministry. Among the most 
virulent of his opposers was a Mr. Thorpe, who, 
with three of his associates, agreed for a wager 
to mimic the preacher. It was concluded that each 
should open the Bible, and hold forth from the first 
text that should present itself to his eye. Accord- 
ingly three in their turn mounted the table, and 
thus profanely entertained their wicked compan- 
ions. When they had exhausted their little stock 
of buffoonery, it devolved on Mr. Thorpe to close 
this very irreverent scene. Much elevated, and 
confident of success, he exclaimed as he ascended 
the table, " I shall beat you all ! " The judges 
were to be the members of the convivial assembly 
which had met on the occasion. 

Mr. Thorpe, when the Bible was handed to him, 
had not the slightest preconception what part of 
the Scripture he should make the subject of his 
banter. However, by the guidance of an unerring 
Providence, it opened at that remarkable passage, 
" Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 
Luke xiii, 3. No sooner had he uttered the words 
than his mind was affected in a very extraordinary 



The Prince of Ptdpit Orators. 159 

manner. The sharpest pangs of conviction now 
seized him, and conscience denounced tremendous 
vengeance upon his soul. In a nioment he was 
favored with a clear view of his subject, and di* 
vided his discourse more like a divine who had 
been accustomed to speak on portions of Scripture 
than like one who never so much as thought on 
religious topics, except for the purpose of ridicule. 
He found no deficiency of matter, no want of ut- 
terance ; and he afterward frequently declared, " If 
ever I preached in my life by the assistance of the 
Spirit of God, it was at that time." The impression 
that the subject made upon his mind had such an 
effect upon his manner that the most ignorant and 
profane could not but perceive that what he had 
spoken was with the greatest sincerity. The un- 
expected solemnity and pertinency of his address, 
instead of entertaining the company, first spread 
a visible depression, and afterward a deep gloom, 
upon every countenance. This sudden change in 
the complexion of his associates did not a little 
conduce to increase the convictions of his own 
bosom. No one appeared disposed to interrupt 
him ; but, on the contrary, their attention was 
deeply engaged with the pointedness of his re- 
marks ; in fact, many of his sentences, as he has 
often related, made, to his apprehension, his own 
hair stand erect ! On his getting down from the 
table not a syllable was uttered concerning the 
wager, a profound silence pervading the entire 
company. 

Mr. Thorpe immediately withdrew, without tak- 



160 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



ing the least notice of any person present, and re- 
turned home with very painful reflections, and in 
the deepest distress imaginable. Happily for him, 
this was his last bacchanalian revel. His impres- 
sions were genuine, and from that hour the con- 
nection between him and his former companions 
was entirely dissolved. The result was his con- 
version to God, and his entrance into the Christian 
ministry. Such was the result of his mimicking 
Mr. Whitefield. What a strange and unexpected 
result ! He became Pastor of the Church in Mas- 
borough, Yorkshire, was a laborious and successful 
minister, beloved in life, lamented in death. He 
died in 1776, after a ministry of thirteen years. 



Whitefield and the Irish Mob. 

Whitefield was desirous of the honors of mar- 
tyrdom. He said, " It would be sweet to wear a 
martyr's crown." He came near having his wish 
gratified in June, 1756, when he received honorable 
scars that he carried with him to the grave. It 
was while preaching in Dublin, Ireland. At first 
his reception was very courteous and encouraging. 
One of the bishops told a nobleman, who repeated 
the remark to Mr. Whitefield, that he was glad he 
had come to rouse the people. His life, however, 
was soon afterward in danger from the attacks of 
an ignorant rabble on his return from preaching. 
Volleys of stones were thrown at him from all 
quarters, till he was covered with blood. At length, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 161 

with the greatest difficulty, he staggered to the 
door of a minister's house near the green, which 
was humanely opened to him. For a considerable 
time he remained speechless, and gasping for 
breath ; but his weeping friends, having given him 
gome cordials and washed his wounds, procured a 
coach, in which, amid the volleys of oaths, horrid 
imprecations, and violent threatenings of the rab- 
ble, he came safe home, and joined in a hymn of 
thanksgiving with his mourning, yet rejoicing 
friends, of whom he says, "None but spectators 
could form an idea of the affection with which I 
was received." His sincerity and the strength of 
his principles were shown on this occasion, and 
proved that he had imbibed much of the spirit of 
his Lord. He says, "I received many blows and 
wounds ; one was particularly large, and near my 
temples. I thought of Stephen, and was in hopes, 
like him, to go off in this bloody triumph to the 
immediate presence of my Master." 

Whitefield used to say, in speaking of this event, 
that in England, Scotland, and America he had 
been treated only as a common minister of the 
Gospel ; but that in Ireland he had been elevated 
to the rank of an apostle, in having had the honor 
of being stoned. 

The sermon which he at this time delivered was 
not, however, without fruit. Under his powerful 
appeals a young man named John Edwards, al- 
though concealed from the view of the preacher, 
had felt as if every word were directed to him. He 
was converted, and became a successful minister 

11 



1 62 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



of the Gospel, and had the honor of being mobbed 
himself several times. 

Mr. Edwards was one of the earliest preachers 
at the Tabernacle in London ; and he itinerated, 
preaching the Gospel over the greater part of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. When preaching 
in Ireland the mob were going to throw him over 
the bridge into the Liffey, but he was rescued by 
another party. Again, after having preached in 
the fields he retired to a house, which the mob 
threatened to burn to the ground unless he were 
driven out of it, but his friends let him down in a 
basket through a window into a garden, and he 
thus escaped. He proved himself a worthy son 
of his spiritual father. 



"Wicked Will." 

There are some sinners of the baser sort who 
are bold in sin, and who glory in their shame. 
This was the case with a young man in Plymouth, 
who was such a heaven-daring sinner, so bold a 
transgressor, that he was called " Wicked Will." 
Having heard of Whitefield as the man who was 
" turning the world upside down," he went to hear 
him, not merely out of curiosity to hear what the 
babbler would say, but to persecute him. White- 
field rolled Mount Sinai's thunders over sinners' 
heads, and flashed its vivid lightnings around 
them till trembling seized them as it did Belthaz- 
zar when he read the handwriting on the wall. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 163 



" Wicked Will " felt the power of the truth, and 
he cried out, "What must I do to be saved?" His 
sins may have been crimson and scarlet, but they 
were made white as snow. His character and con- 
duct were so wholly changed that it was no longer 
"Wicked Will," but "Pious Will," a child of 
God, and an heir of immortality. He related his 
experience with the utmost simplicity, and said, 
" I came to pick a hole in the preacher's coat ; but 
the Holy -Ghost picked a hole in my heart." 



Going to Hell his own Way. 

Profanity has been for ages a common sin. It is 
so still. " Because of swearing the land mourneth." 
Whitefield heard a young man profane the name 
of the Lord, and he reproved him, telling him 
that God would not hold him guiltless that taketh 
his name in vain, and requested him to swear no 
more. He replied, " Doctor, it is very hard that 
you will not let a man go to hell his own way." 

How true that sinners have their own way of 
going to hell ! " They chose death in the error 
of their way." "They bring upon themselves 
swift destruction." 



Whitefield and the Catholic Minister. 

Whitefield at one time called on a minister at 
Oxford, and asked him if he might visit some of 
his parishioners, and whether he was offended at 
his going to visit the prisoners. " No, no," said 



164 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

he, " I am glad to have any such curate as you ; 
and," continued be, " as good Philip Henry said 
to the minister of Broad Oaks, from whence he 
had been ejected, but where he had afterward 
preached in a barn, c Sir,' said he, on meeting him 
after the sermon was over, 4 1 have been making 
bold to throw a handful of seed into your ground. 
c Thank you, sir,' said he ; ' God bless it, and may it 
make work enough for us both ! ' " 



Whitefleld and the Wounded Man. 

Whitefield was preaching at a time of religious 
persecution. Some one threw a stone and struck 
him in the forehead, causing it to bleed. A labor- 
ing man, who was listening with intense interest to 
his powerful discourse, was wounded by another 
stone, and directly after by the sword of truth. 
He afterward came to Whitefield and said, " Sir, 
the man gave me a wound, but Jesus healed me. 
I never had my bonds broke till I had my head 
broke." 



Whitefield and the Gamblers. 

Whitefield with a friend was staying one night 
at a public-house, and both were annoyed by a set 
of noisy gamblers in an adjoining room. Their 
clamorous talk and horrid blasphemies so excited 
Mr. Whitefield that he could not sleep, and his 
righteous soul was stirred up within him at hear- 
ing the name of God thus profaned, and he resolved 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 165 

to arise and go and reprove them. He did so, but 
his words were of no effect ; it was like easting 
pearls before swine. Discouraged, he returned to 
his room and lay down to sleep. His companion, 
who had tried to persuade him not to go, saying, 
" It will avail nothing, it will be labor lost," asked 
him on his return, "What did you get for your 
pains ? " "A soft pillow," replied Whitefield, 
and very soon he fell asleep and had pleasant 
dreams. 



Whitefield and the Story-teller. 

There resided in Gloucester (Mr. Whitefield's 
native place) an aged and venerable dissenting 
minister. Whitefield when a boy was taught to 
ridicule him. He would run into his meeting- 
house and cry out, " Old Cole ! old Cole ! old 
Cole ! " Whitefield was once asked what business 
he intended to follow. He answered, " A minister ; 
but," added he, "I will take care never to tell 
stories in the pulpit like the old Cole." About 
twelve years after this Mr. Cole heard Mr. White- 
field preach in one of the churches at Gloucester. 
In illustrating the subject he related a story. Mr. 
Cole, who had been informed what Whitefield had 
said concerning his telling stories in the pulpit, 
remarked to one of his elders, " I find that young 
Whitefield can now tell stories as well as old Cole." 
He was so powerfully affected under Whitefield's 
preaching that he almost renewed his youth, and 
used to say, when coming to and returning from 



i66 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



the place of worship, "These are days of the Son 
of man indeed." Mr. Cole so admired young 
Whitefield that he went about preaching after 
him from place to place. He used to subscribe, 
himself " Whitefield's Curate." 

Mr. Cole died very suddenly. One evening 
while preaching he was struck with death, and 
asked for a chair to lean upon till the conclusion 
of his sermon. At its conclusion he was carried 
up stairs, and died. Mr. Whitetield says, " O 
blessed God ! if it be thy holy will, may my exit 
be like his." 



The Separation and the Reconciliation. 

Whitefield and the Wesleys were, as we have 
seen, intimate friends — brothers beloved — fighting 
side by side the battles of the Lord, and achieving 
stupendous victories. But the scenes greatly 
changed. In 1741 they separated on doctrinal 
points, Whitefield becoming a Calvinist, and the 
Wesleys remaining Arminians. 

Mr. Whitefield was in America when John 
Wesley preached and published a sermon on " Free 
Grace," to which was appended Charles Wesley's 
hymn on " God's universal love." Some one sent 
a copy of it to America, and it fell into the hands 
of Whitefield ; and, although his name was not 
mentioned in it, he considered it personal, and was 
exceedingly grieved. He wrote an answer to it, 
which was published in America before his return 
to England. Besides which he wrote to the Wes- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 167 

ley*, expostulating with them thus : " My dear, 
dear brethren, why did you throw out the bone 01 
contention? Why did you print that sermon 
against predestination? Why did you, my dear 
Brother Charles, affix your hymn to it? O my 
dear brethren, my heart almost bleeds within me ! 
Methinks I could be willing to tarry on the waters 
here forever rather than come to England to op- 
pose you." They afterward had a meeting, and 
Whitefield says : " Ten thousand times would I 
rather have died than part with my old friends. 
It would have melted any heart to have heard Mr. 
Charles Wesley and I weeping after prayer that 
if possible the breach might be prevented." 

There was considerable correspondence, several 
interviews, and some unpleasant feeling. John 
Wesley tenderly wrote to Whitefield, in answer to 
one of his letters : " The case is plain ; there are 
bigots both for predestination and against it. 
God is sending a message to either side, but nei- 
ther will receive it unless from one who is of their 
own opinion. Therefore for a time you are suf- 
fered to be of one opinion, and I of another. But 
when his time is come, God will do what men can- 
not, namely, make us of one mind." This prophe- 
cy was fulfilled in spirit though not in the letter, 
for, though they always after differed on theologi- 
cal points, they became one heart. They agreed 
to differ — the one to remain an Arminian, the 
other a Calvinist. 

"Thus did Methodism divide into two currents 
and thereby watered a wider range of the moral 



1 68 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

wilderness. Both flowed from the same source 
and in the same general direction." * " It was a 
happy thing for the world and the Church they 
were not of one opinion ; for had they been united 
in either, extreme truth would have made less 
progress. As joint Arminians, they would have 
spread Pelagianism ; and as joint Calvinists, they 
would have been hyper, though not Antinomian. 
It was well, therefore, that they modified each 
other ; for they were c two suns ' which could not 
have fixed 

; One meridian.' " f 

Mr. Whitefield was a moderate Calvinist. He 
says, in a letter written two years before his death, 
" Moderate Calvinism I take to be a medium be- 
tween two extremes. I should not choose to use 
expressions that need an apology. This seems 
to be a blemish in Dr. Crisp and other sublapsarian 
writers." J 

THE RECONCILIATION-. 

The Wesleys and Whitefield were soon recon- 
ciled, so as to become life-time friends, feeling the 
deepest interest in each other's welfare, and each 
rejoicing in the prosperity of the other. 

John Wesley says : " Mr. Whitefield called on 
me. Disputings are no more ! We love one 
another, and join hand in hand to promote the 
cause of our common Master." § Mr. Whitefield 

♦Dr. Stevens's History of Methodism, vol. i, p. 155. 
f Philip's Life and Times of Whitefield, p. 203. 
X Letter, vol. iii of Whitefield's WorKS, p. 379. 
§ Journal, November, 1745. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 169 

wrote : " I love and honor you for Christ's sake, 
and when I come to judgment will thank you 
before men and angels for what you have done for 
my soul." He also wrote to John Wesley from 
Philadelphia, Sept. 1747, "My heart is really for 
an outward as well as an inward union. Nothing 
shall be wanting on my part to bring it about ; 
but I cannot see how it can possibly be effected till 
we all think and speak the same things. . . . As 
for universal redemption^ if we omit on either side 
the talking for or against reprobation, which we 
may do fairly, and agree, as we already do, in 
giving a universal offer to all poor sinners that 
will come and taste of the waters of life, I think 
we may manage very well. Tn the meanwhile the 
language of my heart is, 

' let us find the ancient way 
Our wond'ring foes to move, 
And force the heathen world to say, 
See how these brethren love ! ' 

" I long to owe no man any thing but love. 
This is a debt, reverend sir, I shall never be able 
to discharge to you or your brother. Jesus will 
pay you all. For his sake I love and honor you 
very much, and rejoice in your success as much as 
in my own. I cannot agree with you in some 
principles, but that need not hinder love, since I 
trust we hold the same foundation, even Jesus 
Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 
Will you salute, in the kindest manner, all the fol- 
lowers of the Lamb within your sphere of action ? 



170 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon all 
their dear souls ! " Was ever any thing more 
catholic, or full of a sweeter spirit ? 

The same day Whitefield wrote to Charles 
Wesley thus : " Both your letters and your pray- 
ers have reached me. May mine reach you also, 
and then it will not be long ere we shall be indeed 
one fold under one Shepherd. However, if this 
should not be on earth, it will certainly be effected 
in heaven. Thither, I trust, we are hastening 
apace. Blessed be God that you are kept alive, 
and that your spiritual children are increasing ! 
May they increase more and more ! Jesus can 
maintain them all. He wills that his house should 
be full. Some have written me things to your 
disadvantage. I do not believe them. Love 
thinks no evil of a friend. Such are you to me. I 
love you most dearly. That you may be guided 
unto all truth, turn thousands and tens of thou- 
sands more unto righteousness, and shine as the 
stars in the future world for ever and ever, is my 
hearty prayer." 

The following poem was written by Charles 
Wesley after the reconciliation : 

11 Come on, my Whitefield, (since the strife is past, 

And friends at first are friends again at last.) 

Our hands and hearts and counsels let us join 

For mutual league, t' advance the work divine. 

Our one contention, now our single aim, 

To pluck poor souls as brands out of the flame, 

To spread the victory of that bloody cross, 

And gasp our latest breath in the Redeemer's cause. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. iyi 



Too long, alas ! we gave to Satan place, 

When party zeal put on an anpel's face ; 

Too long we listened to the coz'ning fiend, 

Whose trumpet sounded, "For the faith contend ! * 

With hasty, blindfold rage, in error's night, 

How did we with our fellow-soldiers fight ! 

We could not then our Father's children know, 

But each mistook his brother for his foe. 

" Foes to the truth, can you, in conscience, spare ? " 

" Tear them (the tempter cried) in pieces, tear 1 11 

So thick the darkness, so confused the noise, 

We took the stranger's for the Shepherd's voice ; 

Rash nature waved the controversial sword, 

On fire to fight the battles of the Lord ; 

Fraternal love from every breast was driven, 

And bleeding charity returned to heaven. 

The Saviour saw our strife with pitying eye, 

And cast a look that made the shadows fly ; 

Soon as the dayspring in his presence shone, 

We found the two fierce armies were but one ; 

Common our hope and family and name, 

Our arms, our Captain, and our crown the same ; 

Enlisted all beneath Immanuel's sign, 

And purchased every soul with precious blood divine. 

Then let us cordially again embrace, 

Nor e'er infringe the league of Gospel grace ; 

Let us in Jesus' name to battle go, 

And turn our arms against the common foe ; 

Fight side by side beneath our Captain's eye, 

Chase the Philistines, on their shoulders fly, 

And, more than conquerors, in the harness die. 

For whether I am born to " blush above," 

On earth suspicious of electing love, 

Or you, o'erwhelmed with honorable shame, 

To shout the universal Saviour's name, 

It matters not ; if, all our conflicts past, 

Before the great white throne we meet at last; 



172 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Our only care while sojourning below, 

Our real faith by real love to show : 

To blast the alien's hope, and let them see 

How friends of jarring sentiments agree : 

Not in a party's narrow banks confined, 

Not by a sameness of opinions joined, 

But cemented with the Redeemer's blood, 

And bound together in the heart of God. 

Can we forget from whence our union came, 

When first we simply met in Jesu's name ? 

The name mysterious of the God unknown, 

Whose secret love allured, and drew us on 

Through a long, lonely, legal wilderness, 

To find the promised land of Gospel peace. 

True yokefellows, we then agreed to draw 

Th' intolerable burden of the law, 

And, jointly lab'ring on with zealous strife, 

Strengthened each other's hands to work for life; 

To turn against the world our steady face, 

And, valiant for the truth, enjoy disgrace. 

Then, when we served our God through fear alone, 

Our views, our studies, and our hearts were one ; 

No smallest difference damped the social flame; 

In Moses' school we thought and spake the same, 

And must we, now in Christ, with shame confess, 

Our love was greater when our light was less ? 

When darkly through a glass with servile awe 

We first the spiritual commandment saw, 

Could we not then, our mutual love to show, 

Through fire and water for each other go ? 

We could — we did. In a strange land I stood, 

And beckoned thee to cross the Atlantic flood ; 

With true affection winged, thy ready mind 

Left country, fame, and ease and friends behind, 

And, eager all heaven's counsels to explore, 

Flew through the watery world and grasped the shore. 

Nor did I linger at my friend's desire, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



173 



To tempt the furnace and abide the fire ; 

When suddenly sent forth, from the highways 

I called poor outcasts to the feast of grace, 

Urged to pursue the work by thee begun, 

Through good and ill report I still rushed on, 

Nor felt the fire of popular applause, 

Nor feared the torturing flame in such a glorious cause. 

Ah ! wherefore did we ever seem to part, 

Or clash in sentiment while one in heart ? 

What dire device did the old serpent find, 

To put asunder those whom God hath joined ? 

From folty and self-love opinion rose, 

To sever friends who never yet were foes ; 

To baffle and divert our noblest aim, 

Confound our pride, and cover us with shame ; 

To make us blush beneath his short-lived power, 

And glad the world with one triumphant hour. 

But lo ! the snare is broke, the captive's freed, 

By faith on all the hostile powers we tread, 

And crush, through Jesu's strength, the serpent's head. 

Jesus hath cast the cursed accuser down ; 

Hath rooted up the tares by Satan sown ; 

Kindled anew the never-dying flame, 

And rebaptized our souls into his name. 

Soon as the virtue of his name we feel, 

The storm of life subsides, the sea is still, 

All nature bows to his benign command, 

And two are one in his almighty hand. 

One in his hand may we still remain, 

Fast bound with love's indissoluble chain : 

(That adamant which time and death defies ; 

That golden chain which draws us to the skies!) 

His love, the tie that binds us to his throne, 

His love, the bond that perfects us in one ; 

His love, (let all the grounds of friendship see,) 

His only love constrains our hearts t' agree, 

And gives the rivet of eternity 1 



174 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield's Sympathy for Wesley in Affliction 

John Wesley, while at Lewisham in 1753, was 
taken dangerously ill, and it was thought he would 
not recover. Whitefield hearing of it wrote him 
the following letter, which does honor to his head 
and heart: 

"Bristol, December 3, 
" Reverend and Dear Sir : If seeing you so 
weak on leaving London distressed me, the news 
and prospect of your approaching dissolution have 
quite weighed me down. I pity myself and the 
Church, but not you. A radiant throne awaits you, 
and ere long you will enter into your Master's joy. 
Yonder He stands with a massy crown, ready to 
put it on your head amid an admiring throng of 
saints and angels. But I fear I, that have been 
waiting for my dissolution these nineteen years, 
must be left to grovel here below. Well! this is 
my comfort ! It cannot be long ere the chariots 
will be sent even for worthless me. If prayers can 
detain you, reverend and dear sir, you shall not 
leave us yet. But if the decree has gone forth 
that you must now fall asleep in Jesus, may he 
kiss your soul away, and give you to die in the 
embraces of triumphant love. 

" If in the land of the dying, I hope to pay my 
last respects to you next week. If not, reverend 
and very dear sir, F-a-r-e-w-e-11. I shall follow, 
though not with equal steps. My heart is too big, 
tears trickle down my cheeks too fast, and you are, 
I fear, too weak for me to enlarge. Underneath 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 175 



you may there be Christ's everlasting arms! I 
commend you to his never-failing mercy, and am, 
reverend and very dear sir, your most affectionate, 
sympathizing, and afflicted young brother in the 
Gospel of our Lord, 

" G. Whitefield." 

This letter was never transcended for sweetness 
of spirit, real sympathy, and brotherly kindness. 
Mr. Wesley recovered, and survived his brother 
Whitefield nearly twenty years. 



Whitefield's last Token of Friendship to the 
Wesleys. 

Whitefield showed his undying friendship for 
the Wesleys in his last will and testament, made 
six months before his death, wherein he says, " I 
also leave a mourning ring to my honored and 
dear friends, and disinterested fellow-laborers, the 
Revs. John and Charles Wesley, in token of my 
indissoluble union with them in heart and Christian 
affection, notwithstanding our difference in judg- 
ment about some particular points of doctrine. 
Grace be with all them, of whatever denomination, 
that love our Lord Jesus our common Lord, in 
sincerity ! " 



John Wesley's Tribute to Whitefield. 

Mr. Keen had often said to Mr. Whitefield while 
in London, " If you should die abroad, whom shall 



176 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

we get to preach your funeral sermon ? Must it 
be your old friend John Wesley ? " and his invari- 
able answer was, " He is the man." 

Wesley did preach Whitefield's funeral sermon, 
and in it he paid a noble tribute to his departed 
friend, dwelling particularly upon his friendship. 
"Shall we not mention," says Wesley, "that he 
had a heart susceptible of the most generous and 
the most tender friendship ? I have frequently 
thought that this, of all others, was the distin- 
guishing part of his character. How few have we 
known of so kind a temper, of such large and 
flowing affections ! Was it not principally by this 
that the hearts of others were so strongly drawn 
and knit to him ? Can any thing but love beget 
love? This shone in his very countenance, and 
continually breathed in all his words, whether in 
public or private. Was it not this which, quick 
and penetrating as lightning, flew from heart to 
heart? which gave that life to his sermons, his 
conversation, his letters ? Ye are witnesses." And 
in his Journal he says, " In every place I wish to 
show all possible respect to the memory of that 
great and good man." 



Whitefield and the Wicked Captain, 

Mr. Whitefield having been invited by an Ameri- 
can merchant then in England, in the name of 
thousands, to make another visit to America, took 
passage with that gentleman on board of a vessel 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 177 



that was to sail from Portsmouth. The captain, 
hearing of the character of Whitefield and of his 
calling, refused to take him, saying he was afraid 
he would spoil the sailors. Whitefield left the 
vessel, and was obliged to go to Plymouth, where 
he came near being assassinated. But on his way, 
and at Plymouth, especially at the Dock, he met 
with great success. The devil's kingdom suffered 
loss, and the kingdom of the Redeemer was greatly 
advanced. This offended his Satanic majesty and 
his imps, and stirred them up to the guilt of the 
bloody scenes that followed. 



The Ferrymen. 

Whitefield, during the five weeks that elapsed 
while waiting at Plymouth for a vessel in which to 
sail for America, preached with great power and 
success. He says, " Could the fields between Plym- 
outh and the Dock, now Devonport, speak, they 
could tell what blessed seasons were then enjoyed 
there." He records a remarkable effect of his 
preaching at this time. It is worthy to be read and 
admired. It speaks well for the unselfishness of the 
ferrymen, who might have had a rich harvest of 
gain from the crowds who crossed the ferry to hear 
the unequaled preacher. " There is a ferry over to 
Plymouth, and the ferrymen were so much attached 
to me that they would take nothing of the multi- 
tudes that crossed to hear me preach, saying, 4 God 
forbid that we should sell the word of God.' " 
12^ 



178 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and his would-be Murderers. 

Whitefield was in peril on the land and on the 
ocean, in deaths oft ; but Jehovah 

11 Covered his defenseless head 
With the shadow of his wing." 

During his detention at Plymouth four gentlemen 
came to the house of one of his particular friends, 
kindly inquiring after him, and desiring to know 
where he lodged. Soon afterward Whitefield re- 
ceived a letter informing him that the writer was 

a nephew of Mr. S , an attorney at New York, 

that he had the pleasure on one occasion of sup- 
ping with Mr. Whitefield at his uncle's house, and 
again desired his company to sup with himself and 
a few friends at a public-house. Whitefield sent 
him word that it was not customary for him to 
sup abroad at taverns, but that he should be glad 
of the gentleman's company to eat with him at his 
lodging. The gentleman accordingly came and 
supped, but was observed to look around him and 
to be very absent-minded. At last he took his 
leave and returned to his companions at the tavern, 
and on being asked what he had done, he an- 
swered that he had been used so civilly that he 
had not the heart to touch him. Upon which an- 
other of the company, a lieutenant of a man-of-war, 
laid a wager of ten guineas that he would do the 
business for him. His companions, however, had 
the precaution to take away his sword. 

It was now about midnight, and Whitefield, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 179 

having that clay preached to a large congregation, 
had gone to bed, when the landlady came and told 
him that a well-dressed gentleman desired to speak 
with him. Whitefield, supposing that it was some 
one under conviction for sin, wished him to be ad- 
mitted into his room. He was introduced, took a 
seat by the bedside, congratulated Mr. Whitefield 
on the success that had attended his ministry, and 
expressed much concern on being detained from 
hearing him. Soon after he broke out into the 
most abusive language, and in a cruel and cow- 
ardly manner beat him in his bed. The landlady 
and her daughter, hearing the noise, rushed into 
the room, and laid hold of the cruel and cowardly 
assailant, but he soon disengaged himself from 
them and repeated his blows upon Whitefield, 
who, being apprehensive that he was going to 
shoot or stab him, suffered intensely. Soon an- 
other came into the house, and cried out from the 
foot of the stairs, " Take courage, I am ready to 
help you." " Murder, murder ! " was repeatedly 
cried, so the two men were alarmed and fled. 
The plan was to murder him. Mr. Whitefield es- 
caped almost by a miracle. 

Whitefield coolly says, "The next morning I 
was to expound at a private house, and then to 
set out for Biddeford. Some urged me to stay 
and prosecute, but, being much better employed, I 
went on my intended journey, was greatly blessed 
in preaching the everlasting Gospel, and upon my 
return was well paid for what I had suffered ; curi- 
osity having led two thousand more than usual to 



i8o The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



gee and hear a man that had like to have been mur- 
dered in his bed. And I trust in the five weeks 
that I waited for the convoy that hundreds were 
awakened and turned to the Lord." 



Whitefield and the Ship-Carpenter- 
In the year 1742 a young man by the name of 
Henry Tanner removed to Plymouth, and obtained 
employment at his trade — ship-carpenter. One 
day while at work he heard the voice of one who 
was preaching in the fields. He concluded the 
preacher was a madman, and resolved, with a 
number of his companions, to go and knock the 
preacher off from the place where he stood, and, in 
order to injure the mad parson, as they termed 
him, they loaded their pockets with stones; but 
when young Tanner beheld Whitefield, with ex- 
tended arms and in the most pathetic language, 
inviting sinners to Christ, he was struck with 
amazement, and his resolution to injure the 
preacher failed him. He listened with astonish- 
ment, and was convinced the preacher was not 
mad, but w^as speaking the words of truth and 
soberness. Mr. Whitefield was then preaching 
from Acts xvii, 19, 20, "May we know what this 
new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is ? for thou 
biingest certain strange things to our ears." The 
text riveted his attention. The word of the Lord 
sank deep into his soul, and with a thoughtful 
heart he left, resolving tc hear the preacher the 



The Prince of Palpit Orators, 181 

next day. Young Tanner came on the morrow, 
and was deeply affected by the fervent prayer of- 
fered before the sermon. Whitefield then preached 
from " And that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name among all nations, 
beginning at Jerusalem." The sermon was in ac- 
cordance with the text, and was delivered in Mr. 
Whitefield's unequaled style. He spoke of the 
crimson guilt of the Jews and of the Roman sol- 
diers who imbrued their hands in the heart's blood 
of the Messiah. He said, " We are reflecting now 
on the cruelty of those inhuman butchers who cru- 
cified the Lord of life and glory." Then, turning 
suddenly around and looking intently at Mr. Tanner, 
he exclaimed in a tone of thunder, "Thou art the 
man !" These words, sharper than any two-edged 
sword, pierced through his heart. He felt himself the 
sinner who by his iniquities had crucified the Son 
of God ; his sins were set before him as plain as if 
written in letters of fire. His agony of soul was 
so great he cried out, " God be merciful to me a 
sinner." Mr. Whitefield, who had been a son of 
thunder, suddenly became a son of consolation, 
and in tones soft and sweet as heaven's own melo- 
dy proclaimed the free and superabounding grace 
of God in Christ, which was commanded to be 
preached first of all to Jerusalem sinners, the very 
people who had killed the Prince of Life, and then 
to all other guilty sinners among all nations. It 
was to Mr. Tanner like the voice of an angel. The 
message of mercy was sweet to his soul, and hope 
sprang up in his heart. Not only was he convinced 



1 82 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

of his sins under this sermon, but many others 
were pricked to the heart by the arrows of truth. 
The next evening Mr. Tanner heard Mr. White- 
field preach on "Jacob's Ladder," under which 
sermon he found peace in believing, and became a 
witness for Jesus. Mr. Tanner soon felt it his 
duty to preach the faith he once opposed. He 
soon became a herald of the cross to gather in his 
hundreds, first preaching in his own hired room. 
In 1769 he built the Tabernacle at Exeter, where 
listening multitudes thronged to hear this eloquent 
minister of Jesus. He also itinerated into the 
dark neighborhoods in pursuit of the lost sheep of 
the house of Israel. He was in labors more abun- 
dant, and success crowned his efforts. 

Mr. Tanner had often expressed a desire that he 
might die in his Master's work. His desire was 
granted him. He had commenced a sermon, but 
was unable to finish it. He was taken out of the 
pulpit and carried to his own house, where he soon 
fell asleep. He died March 30, 1805, in the eighty- 
sixth year of his age. He was the spiritual son of 
Mr. Whitefield. Like him, he was in labors more 
abundant, and, like him, was suddenly called to his 
reward. 



Whitefield and Augustus Toplady. 

Augustus Toplady was a minister of superior 
talents and of rare eloquence. His sermons were 
extemporaneous, and delivered in strains of una- 
dulterated oratory. His voice was one of uncom- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 183 



mon melody, and his manner in the pulpit was 
" singularly engaging and elegant." His audiences 
were generally melted into tears because he wept 
himself. 

He was also a poet of rare excellence. Two 
hymns which he, wrote are enough to immortalize 
any man. That universal favorite in the Church, 

" Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in thee," 

which is sung with delight all over the Christian 
world, was a production of his pen, as is also 
" The Dying Believer." We quote two verses of 
this hymn of uncommon beauty as a specimen : 

" Deathless spirit, now arise ; 
Soar, thou native of the skies — 
Pearl of price by Jesus bought, 
To his glorious likeness wrought: — 

" Go to shine before the throne ; 
Deck the Mediator's crown ; 
Go, his triumphs to adorn; 
Made for God, to God return." 

This distinguished minister is said to have been 
the spiritual son of George Whitefield. For him 
Toplady had the most profound admiration. He 
gives Whitefield credit " for having been useful in 
the course of his ministry to tens of thousands be- 
sides himself." 

The following splendid eulogy is from the pen 
of Toplady : " I deem myself happy in having an 



1 84 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



opportunity of thus publicly avowing the inex- 
pressible esteem in which I held this wonderful 
man, and the affectionate veneration which I must 
ever retain for the memory of one whose acquaint- 
ance and ministry were attended with the most im- 
portant spiritual benefit to me, and to tens of 
thousands besides. 

" It will not be saying too much if I term him 
the Apostle of the English Empire, in point 
of zeal for God, a long course of indefati gable and 
incessant labors, unparalleled disinterestedness, and 
astonishingly extensive usefulness. 

"He would never have quitted even the walls 
of the church had not either the ignorance or the 
malevolence of some who ought to have known 
better compelled him to a seeming separation. 

" If the absolute command over the passions of 
immense auditories be the mark of a consummate 
orator, he was the greatest of the age. If the 
strongest good sense, the most generous expan- 
sions of heart, the most artless but captivating 
affability, the most liberal exemptions from bigo- 
try, the purest and most transpicuous integrity, 
the brightest cheerfulness, and the promptest wit, 
enter into the composition of social excellence, he 
was one of the best companions in the world. 

" If to be steadfast, immovable, always abound 
in the works of the Lord ; if a union of the most 
brilliant with the most solid ministerial gifts, bal- 
lasted by a deep and humbling experience of grace, 
and crowned with the most extended success in the 
conversion of sinners and edification of saints, be 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 185 

signatures of a commission from heaven, George 
Whitefield cannot but stand highest on the mod- 
ern list of Christian ministers. 

" England has had the honor of producing the 
greatest men in almost every walk of useful know- 
ledge. At the head of these are Archbishop Brad- 
wardin, the prince of divines ; Milton, the prince 
of poets ; Newton, the prince of philosophers ; 
Whitefield, the prince of preachers." 



Whitefield and James Hervey. 

James Hervey, well known in the Christian 
world not only as an able preacher, but also as the 
author of several popular works, " Meditations 
among the Tombs," " Reflections in a Flower- 
garden," and others, was the spiritual son of 
George Whitefield. In a letter to Mr. Whitefield 
he says, " Your Journals, dear sir, and your ser- 
mons, especially that sweet sermon on ' What 
think ye of Christ ? ' were the means of bringing 
me to a knowledge of the truth." Their souls 
ever afterward were knit together like Jonathan 
and David's ; their hearts, like kindred drops, were 
mingled into one. 

WHITEEIELD'S GUEST. 

Hervey was the honored guest of Whitefield 
when in London. " The seraphic Mr. Hervey," 
says Whitefield, " when he did me the honor to 
sojourn under my roof, said, 4 My dear friend, it is 
an awful thing when you see an unconverted man 



186 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



die and his eyes close, to think that his poor soul 
will never see one gleam of comfort or life more ; 
to have a sight of God, of Christ, and the heavenly- 
angels and saints, but to see — what the rich man 
saw — Lazarus now taken notice of in heaven, 
and to see himself a beggar in hell." 

THE REVISION. 

Whitefield and Hervey revised each other's 
writings. Of his friend's writings Mr. Whitefield 
says : u For me to play the critic on them would 
be like holding up a candle to see the sun. I, 
however, will just mark a few places as you desire. 
I foretell their fate. I thank you a thousand times 
for the trouble you have taken in revising my poor 
compositions, which I am afraid you have not 
treated with becoming severity. How many par- 
dons I ask for mangling, and I fear murdering, 
your Theron and Aspasia ! If you think my two 
sermons will do for the public return them imme- 
diately." How humiliating the views he enter- 
tains of his own talents, for he adds, " I have 
nothing to comfort me but this, namely, the Lord 
chooses the weak things of this world to confound 
the strong, and things that are not to bring to 
naught things that are. I write for the poor, you 
for the polite and noble. God will assuredly own 
and bless what you write." 

THE DELIGHTFUL INTERVIEW. 

James Hervey had a delightful interview, at the 
home of Philip Doddridge, at Northampton, with 
his host, George Whitefield, and two other clergy- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 187 

men distinguished for their learning and valuable 
writings. There was a mingling and commingling 
of pure spirits, and 

" The fellowship of kindred minds 
Is like to that above." 

Heart met heart, soul met soul. They felt that 

41 Their hopes and fears and aims were one — 
Their comforts and their cares." 

Hervey says, "I never spent a more delightful 
evening, nor ever saw one who seemed to make 
nearer approaches to the felicities of heaven than 
Mr. Whitefield." 

THE FEAST. 

A gentleman of great rank and worth in North- 
ampton invited Doddridge, Hervey, Whitefield, 
and other clergymen, to a splendid entertainment. 
Hervey says : " How mean was his provision, how 
coarse his delicacies, compared with the fruit of 
Mr. Whitefield' s lips ! They dropped as the honey, 
and were as a well of life." 

THE PORTRAITURE. 

Hervey thus draws a portraiture of Whitefield 
which is inimitably beautiful, and does him 
great honor : 

" Surely people do not know that amiable and 
exemplary man, or else I cannot but think, instead 
of depreciating, they would applaud and love 
him. For my part I never beheld so fair a copy 
of our Lord, such a living image of the Saviour, 
«uch exalted delight in God, such enlarged benev- 



1 88 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



olence to man, such a steady faith in the divine 
promises, and such a fervent zeal for the divine 
glory ; and all this without the least moroseness 
of humor or extravagance of behavior, sweetened 
with the most engagedness of temper, and regulat- 
ed by all the sobriety of reason and wisdom of 
Scripture ; insomuch that I cannot forbear applying 
the wise man's portraiture of an illustrious woman 
to this eminent minister of the everlasting Gospel : 
6 Many sons have done virtuously, but thou excel- 
lest them all. 5 " 

What a portrait have we here, drawn by the 
hand of a master ! How exquisitely fine ! How 
inimitably beautiful! What a pencil, dipped not 
only in " color's native well," but in the colors of 
the Sun of Righteousness ! How angelic the 
character ! If this portraiture be correct, we no 
longer wonder that Whitefield is called " The Se- 
raphic." And yet with characteristic modesty 
Whitefield said, " It is too much embellished, and 
the character too extravagant." * 



Lady Huntingdon. 

Selina Huntingdon was born August 13, 1707, 
and was married to Theophilus, Earl of Hunting- 
don, in 1728, and had three sons and three 
daughters. 

" In the spring day of her life there was little to 
distinguish Lady Huntingdon from the many 
charming and intelligent young women who ever 
* Letter to Lady Huntingdon, August 4, 1750. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 189 



grace the courtly circle in which she moved. She 
was naturally gay, and the quickness of her dispo- 
sition rendered her sprightly and amusing ; but it 
does not appear that her gayety tended toward 
dissipation, or that her conversational talents 
amounted to wit." How far her religious education 
had been attended to is not indicated, but there is 
no reason to surmise that it was defective ; and 
had not her maternal and conjugal affections suf- 
fered from the shock of family bereavements her 
character would probably have remained not less 
worthy, though far less remarkable, than it was, had 
it not been for the death of her husband and chil- 
dren, which to her covered earth with a pall of 
darkness, and led her to look for light from above. 
She then sought and found an interest in the 
Saviour, devoting the rest of her life to his service. 
She became a member of the Church of England. 
She was delighted with the great religious move- 
ment inaugurated by Wesley and Whitefield, and 
on Whiteti eld's arrival from America in 1748 
she formed his acquaintance. Having heard that 
he was expected, she had engaged Howell Harris to 
bring him to Chelsea as soon as he should arrive. 
"Whitefield became her guest, and prekched twice 
in her drawing-room, and so deep was the impres- 
sion his sermons made upon her she resolved to invite 
the nobility to hear him. A friendship as lasting 
as their existence was then formed. He afterward 
not only preached frequently at her house, but she 
supplied him largely with funds, built chapels, 
which he dedicated, and appointed him her chap- 



190 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



lain. Whitefield wrote hundreds of letters to her, 
had a splendid painting of her hung up in the 
Orphan House, and in his will left in trust to her 
the whole of that valuable property. 

Lady Huntingdon's life was useful, her death 
triumphant. She left large legacies for benevolent 
objects, and also bequeathed a support for sixty- 
four chapels, which she had contributed toward 
establishing throughout the kingdom. 



Lady Huntingdon, the Bishop, and Whitefield. 

After Lady Huntingdon's conversion Bishop 
Benson went to convince her ladyship that she was 
" righteous overmuch." She was a lady of rare 
intelligence, and she argued with him, giving " a 
reason of the hope that was in her." She out- 
reasoned the distinguished prelate, supporting her 
sentiments and defending her experience from the 
authority of the Church of England and the word 
of God. She pressed upon him with great force 
his own responsibility. The reprover was re- 
proved, the corrector corrected. Mortified and 
chagrined, the Bishop rose hastily to depart, say- 
ing that George Whitefield was the author of the 
errors of her ladyship, and expressed a regret that 
he had ever ordained him. The Countess replied, 
" My Lord, mark my words : When you are on 
your dying bed that will be one of the few ordina- 
tions you will reflect upon with complacency." 
This prophecy was most strikingly fulfilled, for 
when Bishop Benson lay on his dying bed he sent 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 191 



Whitefield ten guineas as a token of respect, and 
requested an interest in his prayers. The Bishop 
had learned more perfectly the way of God, and 
therefore he had a very different view of the char- 
acter and mission of George Whitefield. 



Whitefield and the Devil's Castaways. 

We are indebted to Lady Huntingdon for the 
following characteristic anecdote of Whitefield. 

Some ladies of the nobility having called on 
Lady Huntingdon one morning, her ladyship dur- 
ing their visit inquired if they had ever heard Mr. 
Whitefield preach, to which they responded that 
they had not. " He is to preach to-morrow even- 
ing," said she, " and I wish you would hear him." 
They promised they would do so, and were as 
good as their word. They called the following 
morning on the Countess, who anxiously inquired 
if they had heard Mr. Whitefield the previous 
evening, and if so, how they liked him." The 
reply was, " O, my lady, of all the preachers 
we ever heard, he is the most strange and unac- 
countable. Among other preposterous things, 
(would your ladyship believe it ?) he declared that 
Jesus Christ was so willing to receive sinners 
that he did not object to receive even the devil's 
castaways. Now, my lady, did you ever hear of 
such a thing since you were born?" To which 
her ladyship replied, "There is something, I 
acknowledge, a little singular in the invitation, 



192 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

and I do not recollect to have ever met with it 
before ; but as Mr. Whitefield is below in the par- 
lor, we'll call him up and let him answer for 
himself." 

Upon Whitefield making his appearance in 
the drawing-room Lady Huntingdon said, " Mr. 
Whitefield, the ladies here have been preferring a 
heavy charge against you, and I thought it best 
that you should come up and defend yourself; 
they say that in your sermon last evening, in 
speaking of the willingness of Jesus Christ to save 
sinners, you expressed yourself in the following 
terms : that so ready was Christ to receive sinners 
who came to him that he was 'willing to receive 
the devil's castaways." 5 Whitefield immediately 
replied, "I certainly, my lady, must plead guilty 
of the charge ; whether I did what was right or 
otherwise, your ladyship shall judge from the fol- 
lowing circumstance. Did your ladyship notice, 
about half an hour ago, a very modest single rap at 
the door? It was given by a poor, miserable-looking 
aged female, who requested to speak with me. I 
desired her to be shown into the parlor, when she 
accosted me in the following manner : ' I believe, 
sir, you preached last evening at — ' [mentioning the 
chapel.] e Yes, I did.' ' Ah, sir, I was accidentally 
passing the door of the chapel, and, hearing the 
voice of some one preaching, I did what I have 
never been in the habit of doing, I went in ; and 
one of the first things I heard from you was that 
Jesus Christ was so willing to receive sinners that 
he did not object to receiving the devil's castaways. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 193 

Now, sir, I have been on the town for many years, 
and am so worn out in the devil's service that I 
think I may with truth be called one of the devil's 
castaways. Do you think Jesus Christ would 
receive me ? ' I assured her there was not a 
doubt of it if she were but willing to go to 
him. She did so, and was received." The noble 
cavilers were silenced, and Mr. Whitefield was 
justified. 

The sequel of the story showed that he was 
right in his belief in the sound conversion of the 
poor outcast of a woman worn out in the service 
of the devil. Her guilty stains were all washed 
away in Judah's fountain. Lady Huntingdon 
afterward learned from the most respectable au- 
thority that the woman left a charming evidence 
behind her that though her sins had been of crim- 
son hue they were washed as white as snow. 



Whitefield's Brother and Lady Huntingdon. 

A brother of Mr. Whitefield, who had been a 
professor of religion, had for some time walked 
in the light; the candle of the Lord had shone 
delightfully upon him, and Jesus all the day long 
was his joy and his song. But he had lost his 
first love, and he could exclaim, 

"What peaceful hours I once enjoyed ! 

How sweet their mem'ry still! 
But they have left an aching void 

The world can never fill." 

13 



194 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



He now had not only backslidden, but had sunk 
into a state of despondency. Being on a visit at 
the Countess of Huntingdon's, that lady, know- 
ing his spiritual state, endeavored one afternoon 
while they were taking tea together to raise his 
hopes by dwelling on the infinite mercy of God 
through Jesus Christ. For awhile it was all in 
vain. "My lady," said he, "I know what you 
say is true ; the mercy of God is infinite. I see it 
clearly ; but ah, my lady, there is no mercy for 
me ; I am a wretch entirely lost ! " "I am glad to 
hear that," said Lady Huntingdon ; u glad in my 
heart that you are a lost man." Looking up with 
great surprise, he exclaimed, " What, my lady ? 
glad ! glad in you heart that I am a lost man ! " 
" Yes, Mr. WHtefield, truly glad ; for Jesus Christ 
came into the world to save the lost." " Blessed be 
Godforthat ! " he said; " Glory to God forthat word ! 
O what unusual power I feel attending it ! Jesus 
Christ came to save the lost ; then I have a ray of 
hope ! " As he was taking his last cup of tea he com- 
plained of feeling very ill. He went out of the house 
to get some fresh air — he staggered, was brought 
into the house, and shortly afterward expired. 



Whitefleld and George II. 

A Bishop was complaining to King George 
II. of the popularity and success of Mr. Whitefield, 
and entreating his Majesty to use his influence 
some way or other to silence him. The monarch, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 195 

no doubt thinking of a class of ministers described 
by Hugh Latimer as " unpreaching prelates," re- 
plied ironically, " I believe the best way to silence 
him would be to make a Bishop of him." 



Whitefield and the Prince of Wales. 

Whiten eld's preaching had great influence with 
dignitaries, those who moved in high circles, and 
it extended to the royal family. The oldest son 
of George II. died during his father's reign, aged 
forty-four years. As Prince of Wales, and heir 
to the British throne, he had great influence. 
Bolingbroke and Chesterfield had tried the influ- 
ence of their subtile infidelity upon him ; but 
curiosity led the Prince to hear Mr. Whitefield 
preach. He was greatly pleased and profited, and 
made many inquiries concerning the doctrines of 
Whitefield, the Wesley s, and their contemporaries. 
He was able, therefore, to meet Bolingbroke in 
argument, and his lordship declared that his 
royal highness was fast verging toward Method- 
ism. The death of the Prince was sudden, but 
not without hope. 



Whitefield and Lord Chesterfield. 

Philip Dormer Stanhope, known as Lord Ches- 
terfield, has been called, on account of his superior 
eloquence, the " British Cicero." He was also dis- 
tinguished for brilliant talents, elegant manners, 



196 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

and sparkling wit. He was a statesman and a 
diplomatist. He was also noted for his skepticism. 
He will long be remembered as an accomplished, 
eloquent, and witty peer. 

THE SERMON. 

Lord Chesterfield was very intimate with Lady 
Huntingdon, and, as she had preaching in her par- 
lor, he with others of the nobility attended. One 
morning Mr. Whitefield preached a sermon there 
of uncommon beauty, eloquence, and power, to 
which Lord Chesterfield listened with intense inter- 
est. He not only was much pleased with the ser- 
mon, but seemed very much affected under White- 
field's powerful appeals. At the conclusion of the 
service he conversed very freely with Mr. White- 
field, and said, " Sir, I shall not tell you what I 
shall tell others, how highly I approve of you." 
It was a great triumph for Whitefield to find the way 
to such a cultivated mind, such a skeptical heart. 
It was wonderful in him to be able to secure ad- 
miration from such a source. Mr. Whitefield and 
Lady Huntingdon had at the time great hopes of 
the conversion of Lord Chesterfield, but they were 
soon blasted. The impression made upon him was 
not lasting. His lordship's goodness was like the 
morning cloud and the early dew — it soon passed 
away. 

THE STRIKING FIGURE. 

Whitefield's sermons abounded in striking fio-- 
ures and apt illustrations. His eloquence was at 
times overpowering. At one time, when Lord 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 197 

Chesterfield was present,Whitefield represented the 
votary of sin under the figure of a blind beggar 
led by a little dog. The dog had broken the 
string. The blind cripple, with his staff between 
both hands, groped his way unconsciously to the 
brink of a precipice. As he felt along with his 
staff it dropped down the descent too deep to send 
back an echo. He thought it on the ground, and. 
bending forward, took one step to recover it. But 
his foot trod on vacancy ; poised for a moment, he 
fell headlong. Chesterfield, who had listened with 
thrilling interest to Whitefi eld's graphic descrip- 
tion till he thought the scene real, bounded from 
his seat and exclaimed, "By heavens, he's gone! " 

THE TABERNACLE. 

When Mr. Whitefield was raising funds to build 
the tabernacle in London, Lord Chesterfield sent 
him, through Lady Huntingdon, twenty pounds 
toward paying for the building, and in his letter to 
her said, " Mr. Whitefield's eloquence is unrivaled, 
his zeal inexhaustible." 

HOW TO STOP A MAN PREACHING. 

When Mr. Whitefield was in the height of his 
popularity, and thousands hung in silent wonder 
mpon the eloquent words that fell from his lips, it 
was agitated in the Privy Council that some meth- 
od should be used to stop his preaching. Lord 
Chesterfield being present, turned upon his heels 
and said, " Make him a Bishop, and you will silence 
him at once." 



198 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Whitefield, Lady Chesterfield, and King George II. 

Lady Chesterfield, the wife of Lord Chesterfield, 
was a most estimable woman. She w T as an inti- 
mate friend of Lady Huntingdon, and one of Mr. 
Whitefield's distinguished converts. He said at 
one time, " Some more coronets, I hear, are likely to 
be laid at the Redeemer's feet. They glitter glori- 
ously when set in and surrounded by a crown of 
thorns." 

At the court of George II., on one occasion Lady 
Chesterfield appeared in a dress " with a brown 
ground and silver flowers," of foreign manufacture. 
The King, with a smiling countenance, said to her 
aloud, " Lady Chesterfield, I know who chose that 
gown for you — Mr. Whitefield. I hear you have 
attended on him for a year and a half." Her 
ladyship acknowledged she had done so, and she 
approved of his character and ministry. She after- 
ward deeply regretted that she had not said more 
to his Majesty when such a splendid opportunity 
had been afforded her, the subject having been 
introduced by the King himself. 



Boiingbroke and Whitefield. 

Lord Boiingbroke was a statesman, a wit, a 
poet, and an author. He was illustrious in the 
reigns of Anne and George I. After his death a 
series of essays on religion and philosophy showed 
that he was an opposer of Christianity. He was 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 199 

for a time the intimate friend of Alexander Pope, 
but that friendship was suddenly broken off bv 
Bolingbroke without cause. There are some things 
about Bolingbroke to admire, but not much to 
love. He was one of the nobility who attended 
the preaching of Whitefield at Lady Huntingdon's. 

The morning Lord Chesterfield heard Whitefield 
at Lady Huntingdon's house, Bolingbroke listened 
to him in the evening. He sat there like an arch- 
bishop. He was delighted and affected under the 
discourse, and said to Mr. Whitefield that he had 
in his discourse done great justice to the divine 
attributes. Bolingbroke invited Whitefield to call 
and see him the next morning. He did so, and 
they had a long conversation together, his lord- 
ship showing great candor and frankness, but the 
impression was not lasting. We can see the im- 
pression that was made upon him under the ser- 
mon by what he said to the Countess of Hunting- 
don : " You may command my pen when you will. 
It shall be drawn in your service. For, admitting 
the Bible to be true, I shall have little apprehen- 
sion of maintaining the doctrines of predestination 
and grace against all your revilers." David Hume 
was also present the evening Bolingbroke heard 
Whitefield, 



Bolingbroke's Brother. 

Lord St. John, the brother of Lord Bolingbroke, 
was one of the hearers of Whitefield's parlor 
preaching. He was called to die, and was greatly 



200 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



alarmed. His constant cry was, " God be merciful 
to me a sinner ! " The Bible was read to him, and 
he was pointed to the sinner's friend. 

Lady Huntingdon wrote thus to Mr. Whitefield : 
" My Lord Bolingbroke was much struck with his 
brother's language in his last moments. O that 
his eyes might be opened by the illuminating influ- 
ence of divine truth ! He is a singularly awful 
character, and I am fearfully alarmed lest the 
Gospel he so heartily despises, yet affects to rev- 
erence, should prove the savor of death unto death 
to him." 



Bolingbroke's Philosophy. 

Lord Bolingbroke, notwithstanding his fine 
learning and deistic principles, wrote a letter which 
Mr. Whitefield saw and read, in which his lordship 
said : " Now I am under this affliction I find my 
philosophy fails me." " Their rock is not as our 
rock, our enemies themselves being judges." 



Bolingbroke and the Clergyman. 

From the following anecdote, related to the 
Countess of Huntingdon by Lord Bolingbroke 
himself, it appears that Lord Bolingbroke had 
some good thoughts in his head. A clergyman by 
the name of Church having one day called upon 
him, lord Bolingbroke said, " You have caught 
me reading John Calvin. He was indeed a man 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 201 

of great parts, profound sense, and vast learning ; 
he handles the doctrines of grace in a masterly 
manner." u Doctrines of grace ! " replied the cler- 
gyman, " the 6 doctrines of grace ' have set all 
mankind by the ears." " I am surprised to hear 
you say so," said Lord Bolingbroke, " you who 
profess to believe and to preach Christianity. 
Those doctrines are certainly the doctrines of the 
Bible, and if I believe the doctrines of the Bible I 
must believe them. And let me seriously tell you 
that the greatest miracle in the world is the ex- 
istence of Christianity, and its continued preserva- 
tion as a religion, when the preaching of it is 
committed to the care of such unchristian men as 
you." This was a tremendous reproof, especially 
when we consider the source from whence it 
came. It must have been like a thunderbolt in a 
clear sky. 

— M* 

Whitefield and the Distinguished Beauty. 

" Honorable women not a few " heard Mr. 
Whitefield at Lady Huntingdon's, not only with 
pleasure, but profit. His sermons to the " brilliant 
circle " were as faithful as they were eloquent. 
The well-known Countess of Suffolk was distin- 
guished for rare beauty. She admired herself, and 
was admired -by others. She also heard Mr. 
Whitefield preach at Lady Huntingdon's. He 
knew nothing of her presence, but his sermon was 
so plain and pointed that while he drew the bow 
at a venture every arrow seemed aimed at her; 



202 



TJie Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



every tiling lie said she regarded as personal, and 
her indignation was aroused. It was with difficulty 
she conld sit till the sermon had ended. When 
Mr. Whitefield had retired she flew into a fury, 
abused Lady Huntingdon to her face, and de- 
nounced the sermon as a deliberate attack upon 
herself. There was no quelling the storm of indig- 
nation ; there was no silencing the beautiful fury. 
Lady Betty Jermain tried to explain to her the 
mistake under which she was laboring. Lady 
Bertie and the Duchess Dowager of Ancaster com- 
manded her to be silent. All, all in vain. Nei- 
ther explanations, entreaties, nor commands 
appeased her. She contended that she had been 
insulted, and had a right to repel it with indigna- 
tion. However, her relatives, who were present, 
compelled her to apologize to Lady Huntingdon, 
which she did reluctantly and with exceeding bad 
grace, and immediately left to return no more. 
" Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain : but a 
woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." 



The Nicodemite Corner. 

Lady Huntingdon built a chapel at Bath, which 
Whitefield dedicated, and in which he often 
preached. Whitefield said it was " beautifully 
original ; extremely plain, and equally grand." 
There was in this chapel a seat for the Bishops, 
where they could see and hear, and, being screened 
by a curtain, could not be seen. It was often 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 203 



occupied by them. The witty and eccentric Lady 
Betty Cobbe, the daughter-in-law of the Arch- 
bishop of Dublin, called this curtained seat " The 
Nicodemite Corner" She was in her element 
when she could get the Bishops into this place, 
where they could iC see and hear the Methodists 
unseen." The Bishop of Derry, Dr. Barnard, who 
ordained Thomas Maxfield to help Mr. Wesley, 
that that " good man might not work himself to 
death," often occupied that curtained pew. 



Whitefield and Lord Dartmouth. 

Lord Dartmouth is known and esteemed in 
America as having been the patron of an institu- 
tion of learning that bears his honored name — 
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. 
Lord Dartmouth was a Methodist, and he and 
Mr. Whitefield were most intimate friends. The 
poet Cowper knew him well, and thus refers to 
him : 

" We boast some rich ones whom the Gospel sways, 
And one who wears a coronet and prays." 

George III. admired him, and said, " They call 
my Lord Dartmouth an enthusiast ; but surely he 
says nothing on religion but what any Christian 
may and ought to say." 

In 1768 preaching excursions were made by 
Whitefield and others of the evangelical clergy. 
On visiting Cheltenham, the home of Lord Dart- 



204 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

mouth, the use of the church, though asked for by 
his lordship as well as Whitefield, was refused. 
His lordship thereupon invited Whitefield and 
those accompanying him to his beautiful mansion. 
Whitefield, however, went to the church, at the 
door of which an immense assemblage, attracted 
by the fame of the preacher, had assembled, and, 
standing upon a moss-grown tombstone, cried out, 
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters," etc. What a wonderful scene! The 
church closed, the graves covered with thousands 
of people, a number of Church ministers, with their 
gowns on, all proscribed from preaching to the fam- 
ishing multitudes, and this, too, while Lord Dart- 
mouth, a peer of the realm, a nobleman distin- 
guished for his wealth and dignity, and admired by 
the King, stood among them with his family, their 
friend and patron. 

Pentecostal scenes transpired that day. Rev. 
Henry Venn said, u They transcended my descrip- 
tive powers." He says that he was overwhelmed 
by a sense of the awful power and presence of Je- 
hovah ; that the effect of Whitefield's discourse 
was so irresistible that some of the hearers fell 
prostrate upon the graves, others sobbed aloud, 
some wept in silence, and almost the whole assem- 
bly seemed struck with awe. When Mr. Whitefield 
came to the application of his text to the ungodly 
his word cut like a sword. Many cried out with 
anguish. At this juncture Whitefield made an 
awful pause of a few seconds, then burst into a 
flood of tears. Ministers stood up and desired the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 205 

people to restrain their emotions. " O with what 
eloquence," writes Venn, " what energy, what 
melting tenderness, did Whitefield beseech sinners 
to be reconciled to God ! " When the sermon was 
ended the people seemed to be spell-bound, reluct- 
ant to move. 

The evening of that memorable day Mr. White- 
field and the ministers were kindly entertained at 
Lord Dartmouth's mansion, and there Mr. White- 
field administered the Lord's Supper; Jesus was 
made known unto them in the breaking of bread, 
and they felt the transforming power of that death 
they commemorated. How the noble Lord 
Dartmouth's conduct contrasted with that of the 
skeptical Bolingbroke or the polite Lord Chester- 
field ! 



Whitefield and Horace Walpole, 

Horace Walpole, who was commonly called " the 
gay courtier," was the third son of Robert Wal- 
pole, who made the remark so often quoted, 
" Every man has his price." They were both 
singular characters, and figure considerably in 
English history. Horace Walpole was a Member 
of Parliament, but no statesman, no orator. He 
was a most singular genius — a perfect oddity. He 
was gay, witty, and censorious ; sarcastic, ironical, 
and scathing. His works were published in six 
volumes. His readers are amused by his liveliness 
of style, his wit and acuteness, and sometimes by 
nis malevolence. He was never profound, and his 



200 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



judgment on men and things must be received 
with large discount, for it was often erroneous, and 
hence could not be relied upon. In regard to re- 
ligion, he occupied the seat of the scorner. He 
delighted to caricature a good man, and ridicule 
experimental Christianity, cutting and carving 
men without mercy, and sometimes making 

"Most hellish meals of good men's names." 

No wonder he is spoken of as a "heartless 
trifler," a man who " lived amid men and things 
which he affected to disregard and despise, but to 
the least of which he was an inferior," indulging 
in " cold and cruel levity," " a retail dealer in the 
small wares of literature." * 

Whitefield, with all his purity and disinterested- 
ness, did not escape the lashes of his malignant 
tongue, or the venom of his poisonous pen. 

Walpole heard Mr. Whitefield preach, and he 
sneered at the power of the Gospel in high places. 
He wrote in a scoffing way to a friend on the Con- 
tinent thus : "If ever you think of returning to 
England you must prepare yourself with Method- 
ism ! this sect increases as fast as almost any other 
religious nonsense ever did. Lady Fanny Shirley 
has chosen this way of bestowing the dregs of her 
beauty, and Mr. Lyttleton is very near making the 
same sacrifice of all the dregs of all those various 
characters he has worn. The Methodists love your 
big sinners, and, indeed, they have a plentiful har- 
vest." He introduces Whitefield into his " Private 
* British Critic, 1818, p. 590. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 207 



Correspondence," and professes to state facts which 
he knew were as false as the father of lies. He 
says, " The Apostle Whitefield has come to shame. 
He went to Lady Huntingdon lately, and asked for 
forty pounds for some distinguished saint or other. 
She said that she had not so much money in the 
house, but she would give it to him the first time 
she had it. . He was very pressing, but in vain. At 
last he said, 4 There's your watch and trinkets; you 
don't want such vanities ; I will have that.' She 
would have put him off ; but he persisting, she 
said, c Well, if you must have it you must.' About 
a fortnight after she was at his house, and, being 
carried into his wife's chamber, among the para- 
phernalia of the latter the Countess found her own 
offering. This has made a terrible schism. She 
tells the story herself. I had it not from Saint 
Frances, [Lady Fanny Shirley,*] but I hope it is 
true." 

Horace Walpole unwittingly bears testimony to 
the consistency of Mr. Whitefield's creed and char- 
acter. " When the peace festival was celebrated 
at Ranelagh, some one in the clique of wits [most 
likely himself] asked, c Has Whitefield recanted ? 9 
Lady Townsend replied, c O no! he has only 
canted? " Walpole thought this a happy hit, 
little dreaming it to be a compliment to a man 
who might have had preferment at the time if 
he had recanted his clerical irregularities. Wal- 
pole treated John Wesley with much greater 
candor. 

* By way of ridicule be called her "Saint Fanny." 



208 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Lady Elizabeth Hastings. 

Lady Elizabeth Hastings was the eldest daugh- 
ter of the Countess of Huntingdon. She was an 
amiable and accomplished lady, much admired for 
her grace, vivacity, and talents. In 1749 she was 
appointed "Lady of the Bed-chamber" to the 
Princesses Amelia and Caroline, sisters of George 
III. She remained in office only a few months. 
We can see the scornful spirit exhibited by Horace 
Walpole, his sarcasm, his invective, when we read 
what he said concerning it. It was superlatively 
impudent. "The Queen of Methodists got her 
daughter named 6 Lady of the Bed-chamber ' to the 
princesses ; but it is all off again, as she will not 
let her play cards on Sunday." 



Whitefield and the Earl of Ferrers. 

Well does Doctor Young say that " With the 
talents of an angel a man may be a fool." The 
Earl of Ferrers was a young man of brilliant tal- 
ents and superior education. He was a man of 
violent temper, became dissipated, abused his wife 
and threatened to murder her, and afterward did 
murder his faithful steward, Johnson. For this 
crime he was tried by the House of Lords, found 
guilty, and condemned to be executed. Instead 
of being penitent he gloried in his shame, and 
his heart was like adamant. Being the cousin of 
Lady Huntingdon, the utmost sympathy was felt 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 209 



for Mm, every effort being made to save his life, 
and also his soul. But all in vain. Mr. Whitefield 
and Charles Wesley visited him in prison, and by 
kindness tried to find the way to his heart. No 
more impression could be made upon him than 
upon the walls of his prison or its iron grates. 
Mr. Whitefield called the attention of the congre- 
gation at the Tabernacle to the lamentable condi- 
tion of the young nobleman, and asked their 
prayers on his behalf, and publicly invoked the 
God of heaven to have mercy upon him. Horace 
Walpole sneered at this, and said, " That imperti- 
nent fellow, Whitefield, told his enthusiasts in his 
sermon that my lord's heart was stone." White- 
field did use this language ; was it not true ? Did 
not his former life as well as his subsequent history 
confirm it ? The Earl, in compliance with his own 
request, rode to the place of execution in his 
fashionable carriage drawn by six horses, and 
dressed in his wedding-suit, which was of a light 
color, trimmed with silver. He was reckless and 
heaven-daring to the last, and in this spirit passed 
on to meet the Judge and render up account. 



Whitefield and Hume. 

Hume, the historian, was born in Edinburgh. 
He early developed that fondness for study and 
aptness in literature which characterized his maturer 
manhood. He was educated in Edinburgh Univer- 
sity, and became an elegant scholar, an accom- 
plished historian, and a profound skeptic. Real 

14 



2io The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



merit the minister must have possessed whom 
David Hume eulogizes. Skeptic as he was, he had 
great admiration for the talents and genius of 
George Wakefield. 

An intimate friend of Mr. Hume, who knew of 
his having heard Mr. "Whitefield preach in Edin- 
burgh, asked him what he thought of his preach- 
ing. " He is, sir," replied Mr. Hume, " the most 
ingenious preacher I ever heard ; it is worth while 
to go twenty miles to hear him; " and on referring 
to the latter part of the discourse he had heard 
he said, " After a solemn pause Mr. Whitefield 
thus addressed his numerous auditory : c The attend- 
ant angel is just about to leave the threshold and 
ascend to heaven. Shall he ascend and not bear 
with him the news of one sinner among all this 
multitude reclaimed from the error of his ways?' 
To give greater effect to this exclamation he 
stamped with his foot, lifted up his hands and eyes 
to heaven, and with gushing tears cried aloud, 
4 Stop, Gabriel ! stop, Gabriel ! stop, ere you enter 
the sacred portals, and yet carry with you the 
news of one sinner converted to God ! ' He then in 
the most simple but energetic language described 
what he called a Saviour's dying love to sinful 
man, so that almost all the assembly melted into 
tears. This address was accompanied with such 
animated yet natural action that it surpassed any 
thing I ever saw or heard from any other preach- 
er." This is remarkable testimony to Whitefield's 
superior power as a pulpit orator when we con- 
sider the source from whence it emanated. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



211 



Whitefield and Lord Clare. 

There are times when lords, statesmen, and 
politicians are desirous to secure the services of 
Christian ministers. 

When Mr. Whitefield was in the zenith of his 
popularity, and his influence was powerful, Lord 
Clare wrote him a letter requesting his assistance 
at Bristol at the ensuing general election. White- 
field, in replying to him, said that he never inter- 
fered in general elections, and concluded by 
earnestly exhorting his lordship to give all dili- 
gence to making his own calling and election sure. 
He endeavored to impress upon his lordship's 
mind the sentiment of his friend and brother, 
Charles Wesley : 

" Nothing is worth a thought beneath, 
But how I may escape the death 

That never, never dies ! 
How make mine own election sure ; 
And when I fail on earth, secure 

A mansion in the skies." 



The Ignorant Baronet 

A Baronet who was examining some works of 
Bacon, the celebrated sculptor, observed among 
them a bust of Rev. George Whitefield. T\is led 
the Baronet to comment on the distinguished man, 
saying, "After all that has been said concerning 
Mr. Whitefield, he was truly a great man ; he was 
the founder of a new religion." " A new religion, 



212 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

sir ? " inquired Mr. Bacon. " Yes," said the Baron- 
et ; " what do you call it ? " " Nothing," was the 
reply, " but the old religion revived with new 
energy, and treated as if the minister meant what 
he said." 



Whitefield and Dr. Johnson. 

Dr. Johnson and Whitefield were fellow-collegi- 
ans. The Doctor took great pleasure in boasting of 
the many eminent men who were educated at 
Pembroke College ; among others, Blackstone, the 
illustrious English lawyer, commentator, and 
judge ; Shenstone, the poet, and George Whitefield, 
the pulpit orator. But the doctor greatly under- 
valued Whitefield, and would not allow much 
merit to his eloquence. He says : " Whitefield's 
popularity is owing chiefly to his manner. He 
would be followed by crowds were he to wear a 
night-cap in the pulpit, or were he to preach from 
a tree." Again he said, " Whitefield never drew 
as much attention as a mountebank does ; he did 
not draw attention by doing better than others 
but by doing what was strange. Were Astley tc 
preach a sermon standing upon his head upon 
horseback he could collect a multitude to hear 
him; but no wise man would say he had made a 
better sermon for that. I never treated White- 
field's ministry with contempt ; I believe he did 
good. He had devoted himself to the lower 
classes of mankind, and among them he was of 
use* But when familiarity and noise claim the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 213 



praise due to knowledge, art, and elegance, we 
must beat down such pretensions." * 

The great lexicographer mistook the character 
and talents of the great prince of pulpit orators. 
Whitefield did not confine his ministry to the 
lower classes. In the higher, among the nobility, 
he had splendid seals to his ministry, who are 
brilliant stars in his crown. 



Whitefield and the Barber. 

A young man, a barber in the city of Norwich, 
England, about eighteen years of age, was walking 
out one morning with a party of young men who 
had agreed to make that a holiday. The first 
object that attracted their attention was an old 
woman who pretended to tell fortunes. That she 
might tell theirs more accurately they gave her 
plenty of liquor, and their fortunes were told, after 
which the young man said to his companions, " O, 
Whitefield, the famous Methodist preacher, is to 
preach to-night, and I'll go hear him." 

In the evening the young man was present, and 
Mr. Whitefield preached from Matthew iii, 7 : 
" But when he saw many of the Pharisees and 
Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, 
O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to 
flee the wrath to come ?" His theme was Future 
Wrath, and his eloquence was overwhelming. The 
young man, in giving his impressions of the ser- 
*BoswelTs Life of Johnson, p. 417. 



214 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



mon, said: "Mr. Whitefield described the Saddu- 
cean character ; but this did not touch me. I 
thought myself as good a Christian as any man in 
England. From this he went on to that of the 
Pharisees. He described their external decency, 
but said the poison of the viper rankled in their 
hearts. This rather shook me. At length in the 
course of his sermon he abruptly broke off, paused 
for a few moments, then burst into a flood of tears, 
lifted up his hands and eyes, and exclaimed with 
tremendous emphasis, ' O, my hearers, the wrath's 
to come! the wrath's to come!' These words 
sank into my heart like lead in the waters. I wept, 
and when the sermon was ended I retired alone. 
For days and weeks I could think of little else. 
Those awful words would follow me wherever I 
went, ' The wrath's to come ! the wrath's to come ! ' " 
This led him to seek a shelter from the gathering 4 
storm. He realized that 

"Now, only now, against that hour 

We may a place provide ; 
Beyond the grave, beyond the power 

Of hell, our spirits hide : 

"Firm in the all-destroying shock, 

May view the final scene ; 
For, lo ! the everlasting Rock 

Is cleft to take us in." 

In the cleft of the rock he found a hiding-place. 
He experienced the forgiveness of his sins, and 
became an acceptable and useful minister of the 
Gospel, whose grand employment was to warn the 
people to flee the wrath to come. His singular 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 2 1 5 



awakening under Mr. Whitefi eld's sermon he re- 
lated to the Rev. Andrew Fuller. 

That young man was the Rev. Robert Robinson, 
a man of superior talents, afterward a popular and 
useful Baptist minister in Cambridge, England. 
He was the author of some useful works, one of the 
most popular of which was his tc Plea for the Di- 
vinity of Jesus," which is said to be one of the 
best books ever written on the subject. He after- 
ward unfortunately fell into the dregs of Socinian- 
ism. Rev. Samuel Bradburn and Dr. Whitehead 
went to hear him preach in London, and after the 
sermon had an interview with him, when Dr. 
Whitehead said, " Mr. Robinson, will you answer 
me a question ? " "I will if I can," he replied. 
" Well, then, if you had it to do now, would you 
publish your c Plea for the Divinity of Jesus ? ' " 
He paused for a moment, and, looking very serious, 
slowly and solemnly replied, " Doctor, I would." 

It is said that Robinson was afterward re- 
claimed, and died in the orthodox faith. 

Mr. Robinson was not only a preacher and an 
author, but also a poet. One of his hymns is uni- 
versally admired, being sung all over the Christian 
Church : 

4t Come, thou Fount of every blessing, 

Tune my heart to sing thy grace : 
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, 

Calls for songs of loudest praise. 
Teach me some melodious sonnet, 

Sung by naming tongues above : 
Praise the mount — I'm fixed upon it ; 
Mount of thy redeeming love ! " 



216 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and John Cownley. 

John Cownley was an early Methodist preacher 
in connection with John Wesley, who said Cown- 
ley was the best preacher in England. He was 
the intimate friend of Mr. Whitefield, with whom 
he frequently corresponded. He loved Mr. White- 
field for his work's sake, and revered his memory 
to the last. Mr. Whitefi eld's letters not only illus- 
trate his character, but also his exalted esteem for 
Mr. Cownley. 

SICKNESS AXD RECOVERY. 

Mr. Cownley had been very sick, but recovered. 
Mr. Whitefield writes to him thus, Sept. 16, 1755 : 
" I wish you joy (after having been in sight of 
your heavenly port) of putting out to sea again. 
I hear you are upon the recovery, and therefore 
humbly hope, as your sickness has not been unto 
death, that it has been only a kind of purgation to 
cause you to bring forth more fruit. Then shall 
you sing, 

" 1 happy rod, 
That brought me nearer to my God.' M 

MARRIAGE. 

" Perhaps ere this reaches your hands," writes 
Whitefield, referring to Cownley's marriage, " you 
may be entered into the marriage state. May the 
everlasting and ever-loving Bridegroom of the 
Church bless both you and yours, and give you to 
live as becometh the heirs of the grace of life! 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 217 



I hope you will never say, 'I have married a wife, 
and therefore can no longer come forth into the 
highways and hedges.' I trust you will never say, 
c I pray thee have me excused.' A good wife and 
a good fortune call for double diligence in the 
work of God." 

HUMILITY. 

In the same letter Whitefield writes, "O this 
pilgrim's life ! With a pilgrim's heart how sweet ! 
I want to begin to do something for Jesus. I am 
a dwarf, a dwarf ; and yet, amazing love ! Jesus still 
vouchsafes to bless and own my feeble labors." 

LIMITATION. 

Mr. Whitefield, after having been sick, says m 
another letter to Cownley, " But, alas ! like you 
when putting into harbor, I am likely to put out 
to sea again. O that it may be to take some 
prizes for my God ! Blessed be his name, though 
I am reduced to the ungrateful necessity of preach- 
ing only once a day, yet I find the word of the 
Lord doth not return empty." 

CONGRATULATION. 

In a letter of August 14, 1756, Whitefield says, 
" I am glad to hear that you are restored to your 
throne again. In London there has been a most 
glorious awakening all the winter. Jesus hath 
done wonders. And surely it is the wonder of 
wonders that such a worthless wretch as I should 
be.employed by him. Help, O help me to praise 



2 1 8 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

redeeming love ! O for a hundred thousand lives 
to spend in the service of Christ ! " 

PILGRIM NO HOME. 

Mr. Whitefield in a letter to Mr. Cownley, writ- 
ten Sept. 1, 1766, writes thus: "Indeed, and in- 
deed, I received no letter from you while abroad. 
Sickness prevents my corresponding more fre- 
quently now I am come home. Home, did I say ? 
Where is my home ? Where yours lies — in heaven. 
There is our citizenship." 

CATHOLIC SPIRIT. * 

u Is it practicable," continues Whitefield, " for 
you to come to London to assist at the Tabernacle 
for a month or six weeks. My helpers as well as 
myself are invalids. Dear Mr. Wesley, I am per- 
suaded, will readily consent. We are on good 
terms. 

" 1 may we find the ancient way 

Our wond'ring foes to move, 
And force the heathen world to say, 

See how these Christians love V n 

COWNLEY, THE CLERGYMAN, AND THE QUAKER. 

The following characteristic anecdote of White- 
field's friend Cownley is also illustrative of the 
times in which they lived : 

In one of Mr. Cownley's excursions into the 
Dales he was insulted by a mob headed by a cler- 
gyman. Warm from the village tavern, this zeal- 
ous son of the Church, with the collected rabble, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 219 

advanced to the field of action. Mr. Cownley was 
preaching near the door of an honest Quaker when 
the minister insisted that he was breaking the order 
of the Church, and began to recite the canon against 
conventicles. Mr. Cownley replied, " If I am dis- 
orderly, you are not immaculate," and reminded 
him of the canon "for sober conversation, and 
against frequenting ale-houses." Confounded with 
the application, the parson retired for awhile ; but, 
mustering up his courage, he again returned, and, 
with threats of prosecution, began to take down 
the names of the hearers. A Quaker, who was one 
of the congregation, hearing the alarming denun- 
ciations, stepped up, and with unruffled gravity 
clapped the parson on the back and said, " Friend 
John, put my name down first." This ended the 
contest. Quite disconcerted, the clergyman with- 
drew, and left Mr. Cownley to finish his discourse 
in peace. 

— 

Whitefield and Rev. John Pool. 

Mr. Pool was one of Wesley's itinerant preach- 
ers, and yet he had long been acquainted with, and 
was the intimate friend of, Mr. Whitefield. They 
happened to meet one day, when Mr. Whitefield 
accosted him thus : " Well, John, are you still a 
Wesleyan ? " a Yes, sir," replied John, and I 
thank God that I have the privilege of being in 
connection with Mr. Wesley, and one of his preach- 
ers." " John," said Mr. Whitefield, " thou art in 
the right place. My Brother Wesley acted wisely. 



220 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

The souls that were awakened under his ministry 
he joined in class, and thus preserved the fruits of 
his labor. This I neglected, and my people are a 
rope of sand." 



Whitefield and the Uncharitable Minister. 

A minister who had not a large share of that 
charity which thinketh no evil, being in company 
with Whitefield, was during the interview very 
free in his reflections on Wesley and his followers. 
Finally he expressed a doubt as to Wesley's final 
salvation, and said to Whitefield, u When we get 
to heaven shall we see John Wesley?" "No, 
sir," replied Mr. Whitefield, "I fear not, for he 
will be so near the eternal throne and we at such 
a distance w T e shall hardly get a sight of him." 
Old Bigotry blushed in his presence. 



Whitefield and Rev. William Grimshaw. 

William Grimshaw, the intimate friend of White- 
field and of the Wesleys, whom he always welcomed 
to his parish, was the Vicar of Hawarth, in York- 
shire. He was not only a settled Pastor, but an 
itinerant minister. 

Mr. Grimshaw attended the Wesleyan Confer- 
ence with Mr. Whitefield in 1762, and they both 
preached sermons of great power. Mr. Grimshaw 
was a man of rare gifts, an eccentric genius, but 
he labored with untiring zeal, and preached with 
great unction and success. Mr. Wesley's ministers 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 221 

were received with joy by him, and they preached 
at his house. After one of them had preached 
there, Mr. Grimshaw encircled him in his arms and 
said, " I am not worthy to stand in your pres- 
ence." At one time, after Benjamin Beanland had 
been preaching at his house, Mr. Grimshaw said 
to him, " The Lord bless thee, Ben ; this is worth 
a hundred of my sermons." When preaching on 
a certain occasion he reproved the people for their 
ingratitude, and said, " You are worse than the 
very swine ; for the pigs will gruff over their vict- 
uals, but you will say nothing." 

THE BOLD REPROOF. 

Mr. Whitefieid often preached at Mr. Grimshaw's 
church, or, rather, outside of the church, for the 
edifice could not hold the audiences. One day 
Whitefieid, while preaching, having spoken of 
"those professors of religion who by their loose 
and evil conduct caused the ways of truth to be 
injuriously spoken of, said he did not think it 
necessary to dwell much upon that topic to the 
congregation before him, who had so long enjoyed 
the benefit of such an able and faithful minister as 
Mr. Grimshaw that he was willing to believe their 
profiting appeared to all men." This shocked Mr. 
Grimshaw, and his spirit was stirred up within 
him, and, notwithstanding his high regard for Mr. 
Whitefieid, he stood up and interrupted him, ex- 
claiming in a loud tone, " O, sir, for God's sake do 
not speak so ! I pray you do not flatter; I fear the 
greater part of them are going to hell with their 



222 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



eyes open." While Whitefield was exceedingly 
surprised at the interruption, the effect upon the 
audience was overwhelming. 

THE WATCH-NIGHT. 

Whitefield, Grimshaw, and Charles Wesley were 
most intimate friends, and made a noble trio. In 
1756 Charles Wesley, having heard that Whitefield 
and Grimshaw had come to Leeds, called upon 
them. They agreed to hold a union u watch- 
meeting." The house was crowded, and Charles 
Wesley was urged to preach, which he did from 
" I will bring the third part first out of the fire," 
a favorite text of his, from which he preached 
a most able and effective sermon. Mr. Whitefield 
followed from " What I say unto you I say unto all, 
Watch." After which Mr. Grimshaw delivered one 
of his most pungent discourses. The prayers and 
hymns, as well as the sermons, were attended with 
Divine power. Memorable watch-night! What 
a trio — Whitefield, Grimshaw, and Wesley ! 

WARNING VOICES. 

When Mr. Whitefield preached in Yorkshire, 
near Haworth, where Mr. Grimshaw was settled, 
thousands gathered in the fields to hear him preach. 
A temporary pulpit had been erected, and White- 
field, on ascending it and surveying the vast multi- 
tude, who with upturned faces stood ready to hear 
the words about to fall from his lips, was pervaded 
with a peculiarly solemn feeling. With uplifted 
hands he offered a most impressive prayer, invok- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



221 



ing the Divine presence and the Divine blessing. 
Then, in a manner peculiarly solemn, he announced 
his text, " It is appointed unto men once to die, 
and after this the judgment." Few who heard it 
thought the king of terrors was in their midst, 
and that he would lay his skeleton hand on some 
in that audience before the sermon ended ; that 

" A point of time, a moment's space, 
Would remove some to that heavenly place, 
Or shut them up in hell." 

After reading the text he paused for a moment 
before he proceeded, when suddenly a wild, terrify- 
ing shriek issued from the center of the congrega- 
tion. At once there was great alarm and confusion. 
Whitefield requested the people to remain quiet 
until the cause could be ascertained. Mr. Grim- 
shaw, leaving the pulpit where he had been sitting 
during the sermon, hurried to the spot, and in a 
few moments was seen passing toward where Mr. 
Whitefield stood, exclaiming, "Brother White- 
field, you stand between the dead and the dying ! 
An immortal soul has just passed into eternity; 
the destroying angel is passing over the congrega- 
tion ; cry aloud and spare not." The solemn event 
was announced to the awe-struck congregation — 

" It hushed their very hearts in horror and amaze." 

After a few moments Mr. Whitefield read ms 
text again, and was about to proceed with his dis- 
course, when another loud and piercing shriek pro- 
ceeded from near the place where Lady Hunting- 
don and Lady Margaret Ingham were standing. 



224 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



It fell upon the multitude like the sound of the last 
trump when they ascertained the cause of this 
second alarm, that another person had fallen by the 
hand of death. 

When the consternation had somewhat subsided, 
Mr. Whitefield proceeded with his sermon amid 
the stillness of death and the solemnity of the 
grave. All sounds ceased but sighs and groans as 
Whitefield, inspired by the scenes of the day, pro- 
ceeded with solemn countenance and with most 
impressive eloquence to warn the people to seek a 
shelter from the gathering storm. 

What impressive sermons ! What an appli- 
cation of his text ! What a terrible appeal from 
eternity ! What an illustration of the words 
of the poet: 

" Great God, on what a slender thread 

Hang everlasting things ! 
Th' eternal state of all the dead 

Upon life's feeble strings. 

"Infinite joy or endless woe 

Attends on every breath ; 
And yet how unconcerned we go 

Upon the brink of death 1 " 

GRIMSHAW AND HIS ONLY SON. 

How many hopes cluster around an only son. 
Mr. Grimshaw had only one son, and in him his 
hopes were blasted, and his expectations cut off, 
for he was a drunkard, and remained one till after 
the death of his father. He was educated in Mr. 
Wesley's school at Kingswood. He was in the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 225 

habit of riding the old circuit horse his father had 
formerly ridden, and would address the animal thus : 
" Once thou carried a saint, but now thou carryest 
a devil." The prayers of his father were answered 
when he was in the grave. His son reformed, and 
devoted his life to the service of Jesus. The re- 
stored prodigal used to ask, " What will my father 
eay when he meets me in heaven?" 



Whitefleld and the Tragedian. 

David Garrick was the most celebrated actor 
that ever appeared on the English stage. He 
made an effort to restore it to the popularity and 
dignity of its palmy days in the time of Queen 
Elizabeth and King James. He was ever ready to 
do homage to superior talent. In a prologue writ- 
ten for him by Dr. Johnson, and delivered at the 
opening of Drury Lane Theater, Garrick paid a 
well-merited compliment to the immortal Shaks- 
peare, who, as he said, 

" Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new." 

Garrick's career as an actor was long and brill- 
iant. He was the intimate friend of Hannah 
More, and brought out some of her tragedies at 
Drury Lane. She was a great admirer of the man 
and his talents, and deeply lamented his death. 
Lady Huntingdon was also well acquainted with 
him. 

Garrick was a great admirer of Whitefield's 
eloquence, and frequently attended his ministry. 
15 



226 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



He heard him with great delight, and, like Frank* 
lin, distinguished between his new and his old ser- 
mons, saying that his eloquence advanced up to 
its fortieth repetition before it reached its fill* 
height, and that Whitefield could make his audi- 
ences weep or tremble merely by varying his pro- 
nunciation of the word Mesopotamia. Garrick 
once said, " I would give a hundred guineas if i 
could only say 4 O !' like Mr. Whitefield." 

Horace Walpole ascribed to Whitefield "the 
fascinations of a Garrick." 



Whitefield and Dr. Stonehouse. 

Dr. Stonehouse was a physician of considerable 
eminence, and as such was highly esteemed by Dr. 
Philip Doddridge and Lady Huntingdon, in whose 
families he was professionally employed. Brilliant 
as were his talents as a man, superior as were his 
qualifications as a physician, he was skeptical con- 
cerning the great truths of Christianity. He re- 
sided at Northampton, the home of Doddridge, 
where the conversation, the preaching, writings, 
and counsels of the doctor, as well as those of 
James Hervey, led him to reconsider the ground 
on which he stood. Upon examination he found 
he was building on the sand and not on a rock. 
Having discovered his perilous condition, he aban- 
doned his infidelity and embraced the doctrines of 
Christianity with joy, becoming a noble advocate 
of the faith he had once denounced. Mr. Whitefield 
met him several times at Dr. Doddridge's, where 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 22J 

they conversed together. He felt the deepest 
interest in the welfare of Dr. Storehouse, and was 
very anxious that he should abandon his profes- 
sion and become a physician of souls. He wrote 
to the doctor thus : " I have thought of you and 
prayed much for you since we parted at North- 
ampton. How wonderfully doth the Lord Jesus 
watch over you ! How sweetly doth he lead you 
out of temptation ! O follow his leadings, my dear 
friend, and let every idol, even the most beloved 
Isaac, be immediately sacrificed for God. God's 
law is our rule, and God will have all the heart or 
none. Agags will plead, but they must be torn in 
pieces. May you quit yourself like a man, and in 
every respect behave like a good soldier of Jesus !" 
Mr. Whitefield's powerful appeals were not lost. 
In a letter to Lady Huntingdon Dr. Stonehouse 
said : What high and holy examples have I in 
the exalted piety and ministerial fidelity of Dod- 
dridge, Hervey, Hartley, and the undaunted zeal 
of that great apostle, Mr. Whitefield." 

Mr. Whitefield wrote to " dear Mr. Hervey " 
saying, " For Christ's sake exhort Dr. Stonehouse, 
now he has taken the gown, to ' play the man.' " 
The doctor did play the man, and became one of 
the most eloquent ministers in Great Britain, ad- 
mired by multitudes. Whitefield had much to do 
with molding his ministerial character. Dr. Stone- 
house was exceedingly useful. He was the spirit- 
ual guide of the gifted Hannah More, and the 
" Mr. Johnson " of her admirable and far-famed 
tract, " The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain." 



228 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Dr. Stonehouse and Garrick. 

For elegance and grace, as well as propriety in 
the pulpit, Doctor Stonehouse, it is said, was 
chiefly indebted to that prince of actors, David 
Garrick. Dr. Stonehouse on a certain occasion 
was to read prayers and preach in a certain church 
in London, and being acquainted with Garrick, he 
invited the tragedian to come and hear him, which 
he did. At the close of the meeting Garrick asked 
the doctor what particular business he had to 
attend to now that the service was over. " None," 
he replied. "I thought you had,' 5 said Garrick, 
"on seeing you enter the reading-desk in such a 
hurry. Nothing can be more indecent than to see 
a clergyman set about sacred business as if he 
were a tradesman, and go into church as if he 
wanted to get out of it as soon as possible." He 
next asked the doctor what books he had before 
him. He answered, " Only the Bible and prayer 
book." "Only the Bible and prayer book!" 
said Garrick ; " why, you tossed them backward 
and forward, and turned the leaves as carelessly as 
if they were those of a day-book and ledger." 
Dr. Stonehouse acknowledged the force of the crit- 
icism, and ever afterward avoided the faults it was 
designed to correct. 

GARRICK' S IDEA OF HOW A SERMON SHOULD BE 
DELIVERED. 

Doctor Stonehouse having requested Garrick to 
favor him with an opinion of the manner in which 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



229 



a sermon ought to be delivered, received the follow- 
ing answer : 

" You know how you would feel and speak in a 
parlor concerning a friend who was in imminent 
danger of his life, and with what energetic pathos 
of diction and countenance you would enforce the 
observance of that which you really thought 
would be for his preservation. You could not 
think of playing the author, of studying your em- 
phasis, cadences, and gestures. You would be 
yourself, and the interesting nature of your subject 
impressing your heart would furnish you with the 
natural tone of voice, most proper language, and 
the most suitable and, at the same time, the most 
graceful gestures. What you would thus be in 
the parlor be in the pulpit, and you will not fail to 
please, to affect, and profit." 



Pamphleteering. 

Multitudes were the pamphlets published 
against Whitefield both in Europe and America. 
We have already noticed some of them. Many of 
them were violent, and there were enough of them 
to have annihilated any ordinary man. It shows 
they must have considered him important game or 
bo many would not have fired at him. Some were 
written by Bishops, others by Pastors, some by 
Synods, Consociations, and other ecclesiastical bod- 
ies. In New England, which he loved so well that 
he called it " dear New England." and especially in 



230 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Boston, where he was unboundedly popular, and 
had some of his grandest triumphs — where he en- 
joyed the friendship of the Governor and of some 
of the most distinguished ministers, such as Prince, 
Webb, Coleman, and others — pamphlets abounded 
against him. Sometimes his friends answered 
them, and sometimes he replied to them himself in 
the most ingenious manner, showing both his 
wisdom and his wit, and thus spiking their guns 
and silencing cavilers. The pamphlets that assailed 
him are among the things that were. But his 
name will live, and brighten with each successive 
age ; while those who wantonly attacked him and 
slandered his character as a minister of the Gospel 
are consigned to the completest oblivion. 

THE WAKNL^G. 

One of these pamphlets, entitled " A Warning 
against countenancing the Ministrations of Mr. 
George Whitefield" we have now lying before 
us. The author cautions his readers against 
this "foreigner." He says : " His [Whitefield's] 
present ministrations have a direct tendency 
to introduce among us a latitudinarian scheme, 
and particularly to make men mere skeptics as to 
the discipline and government of the house of 
God." The writer becomes grandiloquent before 
he closes. Here is a unique specimen of high and 
lofty tumbling : " The present generation is like 
men carried out in a crazy vessel through the 
ocean while winds do roar, billows rage, the 
heavens darken, thunders break, and clouds pour 
forth, while at the same time the vessel is dashing 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 231 



on rocks, and yet the most of those on board are 
fast asleep ! I look upon Mr. Whitefield, in his 
public ministrations, to be one of the most fatal 
rocks whereon many are now splitting." What a 
wonder Whitefield survived ! 

CARICATURE. 

Mr. Whitefield visited Scotland fourteen times, 
and his success there was unparalleled, notwith- 
standing which he was denounced, ridiculed, slan- 
dered, and caricatured. A gentleman wrote from 
America in 1743, wishing to know the state of re- 
ligious affairs in Scotland. The following is a part 
of the reply he received: "A tide of enthusiasm 
has almost overwhelmed our Churches. In the 
summer of 1741 that celebrated evangelist, George 
Whitefield, paid us a visit. Wherever he went he 
had a gaping crowd around him, and had the ad- 
dress to make them part with their money." The 
letter further speaks of the " frequency and vehe- 
mence of his sermons," and the multitudes who came 
"to share in the gale of the Spirit." "He had," 
continues the writer, " a set of screamers follow- 
ing him, and he generally got more or less of that 
music to gladden his ears." He also styles White- 
field a " pickpocket," and says, " He was inflexible 
about the article of gathering money. He went 
off to England with a full purse, indeed, but with 
a ruined reputation among all except his bigoted 
admirers. Very few ministers enter into the spirit 
of Whitefieldism." This is a mere specimen of the 
falsehoods that were published against him. What 



232 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



rude misrepresentation ! What an awful carica- 
ture ! 

WHITEFIELD's REPLY TO THE BISHOP OF LONDON. 

The Bishop of London, with other Bishops, pub- 
lished a pamphlet in regard to Mr. Whitefield, in 
which several charges were brought against him 
for field-preaching. He replies, "And why, my 
Lords, should you be so averse to field-preach- 
ing ? Has not our Saviour given a sanction to this 
way of preaching ? Was not the best sermon ever 
preached delivered on a mount? Did not our 
glorious Immanuel (after he was thrust out of the 
synagogues) preach from a ship, in a wilderness, 
and many other places ? Did not the Apostles 
after his ascension preach in schools, public mar- 
kets, and such like places of resort and concourse ? 
And can we copy after better examples ? " 

Whitefield and others being again found fault 
with by the Bishop for breaking the canons, 
which, by the way, was not their fault, Mr. White- 
field inquires how such a charge can be brought. 
" Is not this like Nero's setting Rome on fire and 
charging it upon Christians?" 

WHITEFIELD AND HARVARD UNIVERSITY. 

When Whitefield preached at Harvard College 
in Cambridge his eloquence was much admired. 
In preaching before the professors and students, 
and a number of the neighboring ministers, he 
made a close application to those connected with 
the college. Though Whitefield had the harmless- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 233 

ness of the dove, he had not always the wisdom 
of the serpent. He had his weaknesses, and they 
were very apparent. None regretted them more 
than himself, and no one was ever more ready to 
acknowledge faults. His preaching they could 
have endured, plain and cutting as it was, but 
Whiten eld had in his journal been very severe on 
the college. He had said that discipline in the 
college was at a low ebb, that bad books were 
fashionable, and that he chose to preach for 
them, "but not as many do who corrupt the 
word of God." This provoked their displeasure, 
and they published a large pamphlet against him, 
containing many charges, to which he replied in 
another pamphlet. One of the charges they had 
brought against him was in regard to what they 
styled his dreams ; this he disposed of very effect- 
ually. Another charge was that he was " a deluder 
of the people." " And here," say they, " we mean 
of money, which by an extraordinary mendicant 
faculty he almost extorted from the people." 
Whitefield replies, "Extorted from the people! 
How, gentlemen, could that be when it was a public 
collection ? I never heard the people themselves 
make such an objection. Nor did I ever see peo- 
ple, to all appearances, offer more willingly ; they 
seemed to be those cheerful givers whom God de- 
clares he approves of." Again they complain of 
his " extempore preaching," which they " think by 
no means proper ; for it is impossible that any man 
should be able to manage any argument with that 
strength, or any instruction with that clearness in 



234 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



an extempore manner, as he may with study and 
meditation." He replies, "But, gentlemen, does 
extempore preaching exclude study and medita- 
tion ? Timothy, I believe, was an extempore preach- 
er, and yet the Apostle advises him to give him- 
self to reading ; and I am of Luther's opinion, that 
study, prayer, meditation, and temptation are 
necessary for a minister of Christ. You say, c Mr. 
Whitefield evidently shows that he would have us 
believe his discourses are extempore.' And so they 
are if you mean they are not written down, and 
that I preach without notes ; but they are not ex- 
tempore if you think that I always preach without 
study and meditation. Indeed, gentlemen, I love 
to study, and delight to meditate, when I have 
opportunity, and yet I would go into the pulpit by 
no means depending on my study and meditation, 
but on the blessed spirit of God, who I believe 
now, as well as formerly, frequently gives his min- 
isters such utterance, and enables them to preach 
with such wisdom, that all their adversaries are 
not able to gainsay or resist them." They also 
object to his 44 lazy manner of preaching," to which 
he responds, 44 This, I think, is so far from being a 
lazy manner of preaching, and the preacher in do- 
ing thus is so far from offering that which costs 
him nothing, as you object, that I have generally 
observed extempore preachers are the most ferv- 
ent, laborious preachers, and I believe (at least I 
speak for myself, who have tried both ways) that 
it costs them as much, if not more, close and sol- 
emn thought, and faith and confidence in God, as 



The Pri7ice of Pulpit Orators. 



235 



preaching by notes." They said, " That this way 
of preaching is little instructive to the mind, still 
less cogent to the reasoning powers." Whitefield 
answered, " Yet I believe it is the preaching God 
hath honored, and which has been attended with 
very great success in many ages of the Christian 
Churches. And if we may pray, I see no reason 
why we may not preach, extempore." 

We have transcribed the above not merely as a 
reply to Harvard, but as a defense of extempora- 
neous preaching in general, and especially because 
it not only gives us his views on this important 
subject, but more particularly because it gives the 
manner in which the Prince of Pulpit Orators pre- 
pared those sermons which secured such profound 
admiration, and accomplished such an immense 
amount of good. They also objected to his itiner- 
ancy, saying, We think it our duty to bear our 
strongest testimony against the itinerant way of 
preaching, of which this gentleman was the first 
promoter among us, and still delights to continue. 
And," they add, " Mr. Whitefield will not have the 
face to pretend he now acts as an evangelist." To 
which he replies, " But indeed, gentlemen, I do, if 
by an evangelist you mean what the Scriptures I 
presume to mean." Whitefield further contends 
that " It is scriptural, and in accordance with the 
great commission, c Go ye into all the world,' etc. 
Was not the Reformation begun and carried on by 
itinerant preaching? Were not Knox, Welsh, 
Wish art, and those holy men of God, several of 
the good old Puritans, itinerant preachers ? And 



236 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

did not Richard Baxter recommend it?" White- 
field concludes by saying, "If pulpits are shut 
against me, blessed be God ! the fields are open, 
and I can go without the camp, bearing the Re- 
deemer's reproach ; this I am used to and glory in 
it." He then says, " I ask forgiveness, gentlemen, 
if I have done you or your society in my Journal 
any wrong." This was not satisfactory, and a re- 
ply was made by the officers of the college in 1745, 
in a pamphlet of sixty-eight pages, in which they 
say, "We agree with you that the great Governor 
of the Church beckoned to you by his providence 
to answer for yourself, but we don't know as your 
answer is such as the great Governor must have 
justly expected in some important instances." 

They were not satisfied with his acknowledgment 
that " he was sorry if he had done them or their 
society any wrong." They said, "These, sir, are 
all general terms. When you enter into particu- 
lars, and make your acknowledgments as explicitly 
as your offenses have been, and shall reform youi 
conduct^ we humbly hope we shall be as full and 
hearty in our forgiveness as you are in your ac- 
knowledgments." 

But the scenes changed. In 1764 Mr. Whitefield, 
whose soul was too noble to cherish any unkind 
feelings, solicited donations of books from his 
friends for the library at Harvard, which had been 
destroyed by fire, and he also made a donation of 
his own books. Four years after this, while his 
old opponent, President Holyoke, was yet in office, 
the following minute was entered on their records : 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 237 

"At a meeting of the President and Fellows of 
Harvard College, August 22, 1768, the Rev. G. 
Whitefield having, in addition to his former kind- 
ness to Harvard College, lately presented to the 
library a new edition of his Journals, and having 
also procured large benefactions from several 
benevolent and respectable gentlemen, voted that 
the thanks of this corporation be given to the Rev. 
Mr. Whitefield for these instances of candor and 
generosity." This certainly was honorable to them, 
and an act of justice to him. 



Whitefield and the Comedian- 
Samuel Foote was intended for the bar, bat, 
having lost his property by dissipation, he turned 
his attention to the stage, and became a celebrated 
comic actor and writer, being known in the double 
character of dramatist and performer. He was 
one of England's most noted comedians, and quite 
a genius in his way. 

In 1747 Mr. Foote opened the Haymarket Thea- 
ter in London with some humorous imitations of 
well-known and distinguished persons. Discover- 
ing this to be his forte, he pursued it for years. Mr. 
Whitefield was during this time such a public char- 
acter, and attracted so much attention, that Mr. 
Foote concluded he would be a good subject to 
introduce into his theater. It is said he was 
induced to burlesque, in the theater, both the 
manner and sentiments of Mr. Whitefield, in order 



238 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

to bring him into contempt. For the purpose of 
obtaining material for ridicule he attended the 
preaching of Mr. Whitefield, and with an eagle's 
eye watched his manner in order to be better 
qualified to imitate his peculiarities of elocution, 
etc. After having, as he thought, seen and heard 
enough for his purpose, he wrote a play, the title- 
page of which reads thus : 

" The Minor, a comedy written by Mr. Foote, 
as it is now acting at the ~New Theater in the 
Haymarket, by authority from the Lord Chamber- 
lain. London, 1760. Price one shilling and six- 
pence." 

The play was not only sold in London, but in 
Dublin and Edinburgh, and by all book-sellers. It 
consisted of an introduction and three acts, and 
required thirteen actors to perform it. Mr. Foote 
was the sun, the rest were the satellites. It was 
dedicated to his grace William, Duke of Devon- 
shire, who was Lord Chamberlain. In it Mr. 
Foote states "that public approbation has stamped 
a value on the execution." 

" The Minor " exhibits some little talent, but it 
is exceedingly low, profane, and vulgar. About 
the shrewdest thing in it is this : An actor in- 
quires, "When may we laugh with propriety?" 
Mr. Foote answers, "At an old beau, a superannu- 
ated beauty, a military coward, a stuttering orator, 
or a gouty dancer. In short, whoever affects to be 
what he is not, or strives to be what he cannot, is 
an object worthy of the poet's pen and your 
mirth." They ask for his bill of fare. Mr. Foote 



The Prince of Ptdpit Orators. 



239 



answers, " What think you of one of those itinerant 
field orators, who, though at declared enmity with 
common sense, have the address to poison the prin- 
ciples, and at the same time pick the pockets, of 
half our industrious fellow-subjects." 

An actor says, "Have a care; dangerous ground." 
Mr. Foote replies, " Now I look upon it in a dif- 
ferent manner. I consider these gentlemen in 
the light of public performers, like myself; and 
whether we exhibit in Tottenham Court or the 
Haymarket, our purpose is the same and the place 
is immaterial. Nay, more, I must beg leave to 
assert that ridicule is the only antidote against this 
pernicious poison. This is a madness that argu- 
ment never can cure, and should a little whole- 
some severity be applied persecution will be the 
immediate cry. Where, then, can we have recourse 
but to the comic muse ? Perhaps the archness and 
severity of her smile may redress an evil that the 
laws cannot reach o* reason reclaim." 

The third act concludes thus : 

" How d'ye spend your days? 

In pastimes, prodigality, and plays ! 

Let's go see Foote! Ah, Foote's a precious limb! 

Old Nick will soon a foot-ball make of him ! 

For foremost rows in side-boxes you shove ; 

Think you to meet with side-boxes above, 

Where giggling girls and powder'd fops may sit? 

No, you will all be cramm'd into the pit, 

And crowd the house for Satan's benefit. 

0, what ! you snivel ; ^ ell, do so no more ; 

Drop, to atone, your money at the door, 

And— if I please— I'll give it to the poor." 



240 The Pri7ice of Pulpit Orators. 

Strange to tell, this profane exhibition of Mr. 
Squintum drew for a time crowds to the theater, 
w r ho laughed with fiendish joy at this ridiculous 
burlesque of religion, and of one of its most popu- 
lar and successful ministers. However, the triumph 
was short, for many were disgusted, and instead 
of lessening the number of Whitefield's hearers it 
only increased the throng, so that the intended 
curse was turned into a blessing. As for White- 
field, none of these things moved him ; he went on 
like the sun, from his morn to his meridian. 

One evening while Mr. Foote was holding up 
Mr. Whitefield to public ridicule in the Hay market 
Theater Mr. Whitefield was preaching in Totten- 
ham Court Chapel, his subject being the " Joys of 
Heaven." Toward the close of his discourse, after 
having described the glories and bliss of the better 
and brighter world, his piety, his imagination, and 
his eloquence being all aflame, he cried out in the 
midst of the enraptured audience, pointing to the 
heavens, " There, there, an ungodly Foote tramples 
on the saints no more !" 

Mr. Whitefield writes at this time, "Satan is 
angry. I am now mimicked and burlesqued on 
the stage. All hail, contempt ! God forbid that 
I should glory, save in the cross of Christ ! It is 
sweet ! It is sweet ! What a mercy that we have 
an abiding inheritance in the kingdom of heaven ! 
Of this we cannot be robbed. Halleluiah ! Sa- 
tan's artillery has done but little execution." The 
scorn and contempt of money-seeking wiseacres 
had little effect on Whitefield. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 241 

THE METHODIST COMEDY. 

Mr. Foote soon after published " The Methodist, a 
Cjtoedy ; being a Continuation and Completion of 
the Plan of ' The Minor.' Written by Mr. Foote. 
As it was intended to have been acted at the Thea- 
ter Royal, Covent Garden, but for obvious rea- 
sons suppressed. With Original Prologue and 
Epilogue." 

This comedy was printed in London soon after 
" The Minor." It consists of sixty-four pages. The 
following is a transcript of the prologue : 

"When, madly zealous, our divines engage 

To mend the morals of a vicious age ; 

When interest only over faith presides, 

And fools or knaves are ministers and guides ; 

When laws divine a property are made, 

Ajid blockheads deal in Scripture as in trade — 

Honest the hand whose satire would expose, 

sacred truth, the greatest of thy foes ! 

And show mankind by what a monstrous course 

The weak are vicious, and the wicked worse. 

No private pique this just resentment draws, 

Or brands a wretched Squintum or hh cause; 

But since the laws no punishment provide 

For such as draw the multitude aside, 

The poet seizes the corrective rod, 

To scourge the bold blasphemer of his God. 

He heeds not what a sectary replies, 

Nor fears the anger which he must despise. 

Happy in this dramatical essay 

If one should see the error of his way." 

This " comedy, called The Methodist," we are 
told was " suppressed for obvious reasons." The 
reasons are not given, and we, over a hundred years 
16 



242 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

after, are left to conjecture them. Plays could be 
acted in theaters then only by authority from the 
Lord Chamberlain. "The Minor" obtained this, but 
not the Methodist comedy, and, therefore, it could 
not be brought out in the theater, and the " un- 
godly Foote," and hosts of others — children of 
darkness — were chagrined and disappointed. It 
was suppressed, no doubt, because it was a thou- 
sand times more low, more vulgar, more profane 
than " The Minor," a disgrace to the author, and 
to the age that produced it. 

FOOTE AND « THE MINOR " IN EDINBURGH. 

Mr. Foote, though he had racked his brains to 
produce the Methodist comedy, and was disap- 
pointed in introducing it into the theaters, fell 
back upon " The Minor," which he could produce 
on authority from the Lord Chamberlain, and he 
determined to make the most of that. 

Mr. Foote was the manager of the Edinburgh 
Theater in the autumn and winter of 1770, during 
which time " The Minor " was acted there. The house 
was pretty full the first evening, the people being 
fond of novelty, and knowing nothing of the na- 
ture of the performance. But such was their sense 
of the impiety of it that on the second night only 
ten females were present. It was repeated on Sat- 
urday night, the 24th of November, and the ques- 
tion was agitated among the attendants whether 
it was proper to so represent upon the stage a per- 
son who was now dead.* Those performing it f 
* Whitefield died September 30, 1770. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



243 



however, had no regard for the living or the dead, 
but it disgusted the inhabitants of Edinburgh. 
The next day the ministers opened their batteries 
upon it, Doctor Erskine and Doctor Walker 
both preaching against it, and that is the last 
we hear of " The Minor." 



The Scurrilous Pamphlet 

THE CROOKED DISCIPLE A1SD THE BLIND GUIDE. 

A pamphlet that now lies before me, published 
in London in 1760, shows how low, mean, and con- 
temptible the opposers of Mr. Whitefield were — 
how bold and barefaced their opposition. They 
jeered at his person, nicknaming him "Dr. Squint- 
um," they ridiculed his attitudes, his prayers, and 
sermons. They burlesqued and caricatured him 
every way. The following is the title of the 
pamphlet : 

"The Crooked Disciple's Remarks upon the 
Blind Guide's Method of Preaching, for some Years. 
Being a Collection of the Principal Words, Say- 
ings, Phraseology, Rhapsodies, Hyperboles, Para- 
bles, and Miscellaneous Incongruities of the Sacred 
and Profane, commonly, repeatedly, and peculiarly 
made use of by the Reverend Dr. Squintum. De- 
livered by him viva voce ex cathedra at Totten- 
ham Court, Moorfields, etc. A Work never before 
Attempted : Taken Verbatim from a Constant At- 
tendance, whereby the Honesty of this Preacher's 
Intentions may be Judged of from his own Doc- 



244 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



trine. By the Learned Mr. John Harman, Regu- 
lator of Enthusiasts, London. Printed for and 
sold by the Author, and by the Book-sellers in 
Paternoster Row. N. B. — This Performance will be 
found by Analogy to be a Useful and Conscientious 
Regulator to the Methodists. (Price one shilling.)" 

The author of the pamphlet has a preface ac- 
cording with the title-page which he submits " To 
the Publick." 

u I have nothing further to premise, by way of 
preface, than that the importance and utility of 
the present subject has induced me to submit the 
following doctrine to the consideration of the Pub- 
lick, namely, 

H 1. The efficacy of the spirit of Christ warmly 
and irresistibly felt in the heart. — This is his Doc- 
trine of Regeneration and Predestination. 

" 2. A Person is not a Christian, nor does he 
receive this spirit, by baptism, but by the New 
Birth ; for there are Children in Hell, (as he says,) 
though baptized, who are not a span long. — This 
is his Doctrine of Reprobation. 

" 3. It matters not what Religion you are of, 
whether Church of England, Presbyterian, Ana- 
baptist, Quaker, Ranter, Muggletonian, or be of 
what Religion you will ; provided you feel Christ 
in your heart you'll all go to Heaven.— This is his 
Doctrine of Reconciliation. 

" 4. A strict observation of the Sabbath, festi- 
vals, religious ceremonies, etc., is all Stuff, and not 
positive Christianity. — This is his Doctrine of In- 
difference and Inessentiality. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 245 



"5. That he can tell when a person shall go to 
Heaven or plunge into Hell as well as you can see 
the shining of the sun at noonday. — This is his 
Doctrine of Assurance. 

" 6. Persons frequenting balls, plays, operas, 
routs, masquerades, gaming, or any other kind of 
diversions, are diabolical.— This is his Doctrine of 
Sorrow and Lamentation. 

" These six Articles comprehend the scope and 
tenets of his pious religion." 

The preface ends thus : " If this work should 
meet with a favorable encouragement, I shall pub- 
lish a sequel of this performance with annotations. 

To show the animus of the writer still more, we 
give his description of " Dr. Squintum's " prayer, 
interspersed with comic remarks. 

64 The Following Preamble is Dr. Squintum's 
fervent, solemn Foem or Prayer, delivered by 
him in an attitude similar to that of Ajax, in Ovid's 
Metamorphoses — his body erect, his hands ex- 
tended, his face thrown upward, with his eyes gaz- 
ing toward the stars ; alternately changing from 
his theatrical astonishments into violent enthusi- 
astical agitations and distortions, accompanied with 
weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Strange 
vicissitudes ! which he strictly keeps up to through- 
out the whole of his preaching. 

"The Preamble. — O holy, holy, holy Lord 
God ! Thou art the same to-day as yesterday, and 
yesterday as to-day. Jesus, thou Bishop of Bish- 
ops, and great Bishop of the world, look down 
from heaven thy dwelling-place, and grant that all 



246 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



who take part with us this day or night in the 
work that we are now entering upon, either in 
thought, word, or deed, may take deep root down- 
ward, and shoot forth in its branches abundantly 
upward. From the sole of our feet to the crown 
of our heads we are nothing but wounds, and 
bruises, and putrifying sores. Bless his present 
Majesty, and every branch of the illustrious 
family. We thank thee, O God, for the late vic- 
tory that thou hast been pleased to vouchsafe unto 
the Prussian Monarch ; do thou continue success 
unto him; give him and his soldiers double 
strength, as well as double clothing for this winter's 
campaign; [and, he might have added, two 
drams a day extraordinary to his soldiers to ani- 
mate their spirits.] Be with Prince Ferdinand 
of Brunswick. Be with the whole allied army. 
Put an end to this cruel and bloody war ; put a 
stop to this, or prevent the opening of another 
bloody campaign. Make or compel the kings of 
the earth to put this sword of war into the sheath 
of peace, that they may no longer make an effu- 
sion of, or a sporting with, human blood. Though 
thou sufferest the bush to burn, yet it shall not be 
consumed away. Lead captivity captive. But if 
thy decree has already gone forth, and this bloody 
and glittering sword shall be again unsheathed, 
and still continue drawn, thy will, not mine, be 
done. [Odious, and blasphemous, to compare him- 
self to our Saviour in the garden !] Turn then the 
swords of our enemies into pruning-hooks and 
plough-shares, and so infatuate them that if they 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 247 



turn they may not know whether they turn to the 
right hand or to the left, and prevent the French 
from getting Hanover. [This part of his prayer 
was not heard, for it is well known they soon did 
get possession of it ; however, to make good this 
unsuccessful petition, he says about their being 
driven out of it,] We thank thee that thou hast 
heard our prayers, [Query, Whether it was owing 
to the efficacy of his prayer, or the bravery of the 
allies?] for in the midst of thine anger thou re- 
memberest mercy. Give our statesmen wise heads 
and honest hearts ; [Qualifications greatly wanted 
both in himself and his followers ;] Gladden the 
heart of his Majesty with the arrival of some sud- 
den and unexpected good news, [at this very 
period of time the French re-entered Cassel,] and 
grant that we may live to see a lasting and honor- 
able peace established among us. [This petition 
was made in the reign of his late Majesty ; I wish 
his prayer had proved more prevalent.] I read an 
account in this day's paper of the plague's break- 
ing out at Lisbon, and that we may soon expect it 
to be visiting us here, do thou keep it from us. 
[But at the end of the same week accounts came 
from thence that there was no sickness there at 
all, and on the following Sunday morning he says 
in his prayer :] We thank thee that the news is 
not true; that the plague had broke not out at 
Lisbon ; [Prayers as groundless as his intelli- 
gence.] " 

The above is about one half of the prayer. We 
will make some extracts of the remainder. He 



248 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

represents Mr. Whitefield as thanking the Lord 
they could sit under their own vine and fig-tree, 
and enjoy the fruits of their own vineyard — ■ 
" meaning the lucrative fruits of his labors at Tot- 
tenham Court and Moorfields." He prays for dif- 
ferent classes, and that the seed sown may bring 
forth " in some twenty, in some thirty, and in some 
an hundred fold. [That a greater emolument 
may accrue to himself from their pilfering.] Pour 
down thy Spirit upon all those people whose min- 
isters are not inspired. [Meaning himself, I hope, as 
one.] Help me, a poor worm, to speak this day 
[or night. Surely he does not mean a glow-worm 
shining in darkness.] We thank Thee that we are 
permitted to tread the paths of Thy courts. [Per- 
haps he means the courts of exchequer, where the 
mercenary love to dabble."] 

At the end of all this solemn mockery the mis- 
erable scoffer adds the following note : " N". B. — At 
the beginning and ending of every invocation and 
ejaculation he profanely makes use of the name of 
God and Jesus, repetitions which I here omit as 
too sacred to be trifled with on such occasions, 
though used by him as a cloak for his fraudulency 
and enthusiastical hypocrisy." 

" Sermon : A Short Specimen of the Rev. Dr. 
Squintum's Extemporary Sermons." Here follows 
a long sermon interspersed with the lowest kind 
of comments. Whitefield utters certain senti- 
ments. [Clasps his chin on the pulpit cushion ; 
humming by the people to confirm it to be true.] 
[Again, humming by the people.] [Elevates his 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



249 



voice.] [Lowers his voice.] [Holds his arms ex- 
tended.] [Bawls aloud.] [Stands trembling, 
makes a frightful face, and turns up the white of 
his eyes.] [Groaning by the people.] [Clasps his 
hands behind him.] [Clasps his arms round him, 
and hugs himself.] [Holds both his hands above 
his head and roars.] [Here trembles himself.] 
[Humming by the people.] [Groaning by the 
audience.] [Roars aloud.] [This repeated.] 
[The doctor halloas and jumps.] [Cries.] [Chang- 
es from crying.] [With a loud voice.] [Sighing 
by the people.] 

At the conclusion of this shameful caricature, 
which is disgustingly mean and superlatively con- 
temptible throughout, there is another note : 

" N. B. The hummers, sighers, and weepers are 
hireling hypocrites, at two shillings and sixpence 
per week, and are the approbatives to his doctrine." 

The "Methodist Comedy," "The Minor," and 
the " Remarks upon the Blind Guides," will give 
the readers a faint idea of the bitter persecution, 
the vulgar ridicule, the low slang, the shameful 
falsehoods, bitter sarcasm, sharp irony, and drivel- 
ing wit with which they opposed that truly good 
man and distinguished minister, George White- 
field. But his name will live and brighten with 
each succeeding age, when those who hissed along 
his path, and darted at him the forked tongue 
of slander, shall have been buried and forgotten 
for ages. The righteous shall be in everlast- 
ing remembrance, but the u memory of the wicked 
shall rot." 



250 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Whitefield and the Tailor. 

Mr. Whitefield had often been deceived in his 
" recruits ; n men would offer themselves as " help- 
ers " who had neither talents nor grace, so that he 
beeame exceedingly cautious in receiving them, 
and unless there was something very striking in 
their replies to his questions, or in their personal 
appearance, or came with a strong recommenda- 
tion, they were not easily received by him. His 
intimate friend, Cornelius Winter, says, " A tailor 
came to Whitefield with a call to the ministry, 
asking to be employed. Mr. Whitefield, who had 
begun to be quite a discerner of spirits, read him 
like a book, saw what manner of man he was, 
and summarily dismissed him with the remark, 
* Go to rag-fair, and buy old clothes.' " The tailor, 
taking his advice, departed. 



Whitefield and Thomas Rankin. 

Thomas Rankin was one of the strong men of 
Wesleyan Methodism — a Scotchman by birth, a 
superior preacher, and a grand disciplinarian. He 
was one of Wesley's early missionaries to Amer- 
ica, and presided at the first conference, which was 
held in Philadelphia in July, 1773. 

He was the intimate, confidential friend of John 
Wesley, who remembered him in his last will and 
testament, and made him one of his executors. 

Mr. Rankin was converted under the ministry 
of George Whitefield, and ever felt for him a pro- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 251 

found admiration. He early heard Whitefield 
preach, and it was his farewell sermon in the 
Orphan House Yard in Edinburgh, of which he 
says, " I had often before had thoughts of hearing 
Whitefield, but so many things were said to me of 
him that I was afraid I should be deceived. I now 
heard him with wonder and surprise, and had such 
a discovery of the plan of salvation as I had never 
known before. I was astonished at myself that I 
should have listened to those idle tales, and there- 
by been kept from hearing this burning and shin- 
ing light, who had been instrumental in the hands 
of God for the good of so many thousand souls. 
I remembered more of that sermon than of all the 
sermons I had ever before heard, and had a discov- 
ery of the unsearchable riches of the grace of God 
in Christ Jesus, and also how a lost sinner was to 
come to God and obtain mercy through a Redeem- 
er." Rankin afterward heard him again and 
again with exquisite delight, and he exclaimed, 
" O how precious was the word of God to my 
soul! It was sweeter than the honey and the 
honeycomb." Mr. Rankin was converted, and it 
was said, " Mr. Whitefield had made him relig- 
iously mad." Feeling it his duty to preach, he 
had a conversation with Whitefield, who gave 
him some judicious and fatherly advice, which he 
followed to the letter. Seeing so little fruit, he 
was tempted he was not called to the work. He 
accounts for it from reading Whitefield's and 
Wesley's Journals, and from hearing Mr. White- 
field. He deeply lamented "the death of that 



25.2 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



venerable servant of God, Mr. Whitefield and 
afterward, on hearing Mr. Wesley preach his 
funeral sermon in Tottenham Chapel, he says, "It 
was one of the most solemn sights I ever beheld. 
Of all the men I ever knew, these two eminent 
servants of God have always claimed my deepest 
regard and warmest affection." 



Whitefield and Thomas Olivers. 

Thomas Olivers was another of the trophies of 
Mr. Whitefield's preaching. He was a noble son 
of a noble father. His conversion was almost 
a moral miracle, and his history far surpasses a 
tale of chivalry. He was a Welshman, born at 
Treganon in 1725. Being left an orphan at the 
age of five he early became bold in sin, " declaring 
his sin as Sodom, and hiding it not." He early 
mastered the whole of the blasphemer's language, 
was familiar with the dialect of hell, and could 
express himself in words most acceptable to Satan ; 
in fact, being considered the most wicked boy 
throughout the region where he lived. He had 
also the unenviable name of being very lazy. At 
eighteen he went as an apprentice to shoe-making, 
but never learned half his trade. He plunged into 
the grossest vices, and his sins were of the deepest 
dye. With another young man, wicked as him- 
self, he " committed a most notorious and shame- 
ful act of arch villainy," which caused them to 
suddenly leave their neighborhood. They went to 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 253 

Bristol, where Whitefield was then preaching with 
such marked success. Young Olivers, while 
walking out one evening, saw a great number of 
people all pressing in one direction, and, on mak- 
ing inquiry, ascertained that they were going to 
hear Whitefield. Says Olivers : "As I had often 
heard of Whitefield, and had sung songs about 
him, I said to myself, c I will go and hear what he 
has to say.' " He arrived too late, but on the next 
evening he was some three hours ahead of time. 
He heard the great " son of thunder," who thun- 
dered conviction into his inmost soul, striking him 
with the hammer of God's word, and breaking a 
heart of stone. Whitefield' s text was, u Is not this 
a brand plucked from the burning ? " The first 
thing that attracted the attention of Olivers, and 
roused him from his lethargy, was the tears that 
trickled down the faces of the hearers around him, 
and the great sighs that heaved from their bosoms. 
He says : " When the sermon began I was a dread- 
ful enemy of God and all that was good, and one 
of the most profligate and abandoned young men 
living ; but during that sermon there was a mighty 
transformation in me. Showers of tears poured 
down my cheeks, and from that hour I broke off 
all my evil practices, and forsook all my wicked 
and foolish companions without delay, giving my- 
self up to God and his service with all my heart. 
O w T hat reason had I to say, ' Is not this a brand 
plucked from the fire ? ' " 

The Gospel from the lips of Whitefield proved 
the power of God to the salvation of young Oli- 



254 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



vers. His after-life showed the wonderful change. 
He ever afterward remained a true soldier of the 
Lord. No wonder one says, " The case of Olivers 
explains half the history of the Methodism of 
Whitefield and Wesley. It won such trophies by 
thousands — won them from the very ' gates of 
hell,' and by 1 a foolishness of preaching ' which 
was jeered at by ecclesiastical dignitaries who 
knew of no way of reaching such cases ; and hoot- 
ed at by the mobs which it subdued and led, 
weeping, by tens of thousands into its humble 
temples." * 

It is not strange that Olivers not only admired, 
but intensely loved the one who had thus been the 
means of plucking him "as a brand from the 
burning." He said he loved Whitefield <4 inex- 
pressibly," and " used to follow him as he walked 
the streets, and could scarce refrain from kissing: 
the ground on which he walked — the very prints 
of his feet." He wished to unite with the society, 
but was timid and fearful ; he, however, made his 
wishes known to one of Whiten eld's preachers, 
who for some reason discouraged him ; but he 
afterward joined Mr. Wesley's band and became 
oi.e of his ablest itinerants, a flaming herald of 
the cross, an able minister of the New Testament, 
a controversialist who grappled with Augustus 
Toplady, as well as a poet of rare beauty and 
elegance, whose hymns have enriched the psalmo- 
dy of earth, being admired and sung all over 
Christendom. 
*Dr. Stevens's History of Methodism, vol. iii, pp. 148, 149. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



255 



For an example of his poetic powers let us take 
the hymn : 

"Lol He comes, with clouds descending, 

Once for favored sinners slain ; 
Thousand thousand saints, attending, 

Swell the triumph of his train : 
Hallelujah ! 

God appears on earth to reign." 

The writer of a hymn of such beauty as this 
truly deserves that his name should, as it does, rank 
among the most noted of earth's sacred bards. 
His hymn u The God of Abram praise " is also 
one of inimitable beauty. James Montgomery, no 
mean poet himself, and an admirable judge, says 
concerning it, "There is not in our language a 
lyric of more majestic style, more elevated thought, 
or more glorious imagery." 

After a ministry of many years, this distin- 
guished convert of Whitefield died suddenly 
March 7, 1799, and was buried in the tomb of 
Wesley, City Road Chapel, London. 



Mr. Whitefield and the Rev. Samuel Davies. 

These distinguished men were well acquainted 
with and much admired each other. Samuel 
Davies was converted in Virginia, through the 
influence of Mr. Whitefield. He has been called 
" the father of the Presbyterian Church in Vir- 
ginia." He studied under Rev. Samuel Blair, a 
splendid scholar, and a minister of fine abilities, 
and afterward became one of tne ablest preachers 



256 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



in America. Three volumes of his sermons, which 
were published, still have quite an extended circu- 
lation. He had a splendid imagination, and fine 
poetic talents. On hearing of the death of his 
former friend and instructor he felt very sad, and 
thus poetically expresses his great sorrow : 

" Blair, whom all the tenderest names commend, 

My father, tutor, Pastor, brother, friend 

While distance the sad privilege denies 

O'er thy dear tomb to vent my bursting eyes, 

The Muse erects — the sole return allowed — 

This humble monument of gratitude." 

DA VIES AND PATRICK HENRY. 

Mr. Da vies was an eloquent and very popular 
preacher. He lived in Hanover County, Virginia, 
the same county with Patrick Henry, the forest- 
born Demosthenes, from whose eloquence he caught 
much of his fire and pathos, and learned many 
valuable lessons in oratory, making Henry's elocu- 
tion his model. Henry himself spake in terms of 
enthusiasm of Davies's eloquence, to which he 
often listened with intense delight. It is said his 
sermons frequently produced as powerful effects as 
those ascribed to the orations of Demosthenes. 
He always brought beaten oil into the sanctuary. 
He said, "It is a dreadful thing to talk nonsense 
in the name of the Lord." He was one of the 
most accomplished pulpit orators America ever 
produced. 

DA VIES AND WASHINGTON. 

After the defeat of General Braddock, and the 
heroic conduct of Washington at the battle of 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 257 



Monongahela, Davies preached a sermon in Vir- 
ginia on " Religion and Patriotism, the Constitu- 
ents of a Good Soldier," in which he spoke of 
"that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I 
cannot but hope Providence lias hitherto pre- 
served in so signal a manner for some important 
service to his country." How prophetic ! 

DAVIES AND THE LAYMAN. 

Mr. Davies was distinguished for dignity and 
solemnity in the pulpit. A distinguished layman 
said that he went to hear Mr. Davies preach, and 
the sight of the man and the mere utterance of his 
text, " Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troub- 
led about many things ; but one thing is need- 
ful," etc., made a deeper impression upon him than 
all the sermons he had ever heard before. 

MISSION TO ENGLAND. 

Mr. Whitelield invited Mr. Davies to come to 
England for the purpose of raising funds for 
Princeton College, promising to open the way for 
his success. Mr. Davies, having corresponded with 
John Wesley on the same subject, was thereupon, 
together with Gilbert Tennent, appointed by the 
Synod of New York to visit England for that pur- 
pose. They arrived in London on Christmas-day, 
1753, and were cordially welcomed by Mr. White- 
field. Their visit proved a very successful one, for, 
while not expecting to be able to raise more than 
£300, they succeeded in collecting over £1,200. 
17 



258 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

THE RECEPTION AND ITS EFFECT. 

Mr. Davies kept a diary, from which the follow- 
ing extract is made : " Wednesday, Dec. 26. Mr. 
Whitefield, having sent us an invitation to make 
his house our home during our stay here, we were 
perplexed what to do, lest we should blast the suc- 
cess of our mission among the Dissenters, who are 
generally disaffected to him. We at length con- 
cluded, with the advice of our friends and his, that 
a public intercourse with him would be imprudent 
in our present situation, and visited him privately 
this evening, and the kind reception he gave us 
revived dear Mr. Tennent. He spoke in the most 
encouraging manner of the success of our mission, 
and in all his conversation discovered so much 
zeal and candor that I could not but admire the 
man as the wonder of the age. When we re- 
turned Mr. Tennent's heart was all on fire, and 
after we had gone to bed he suggested that we 
should watch and pray, and we arose and prayed 
together till about three in the morning." 

WHITEFIELD' S SERMON. 

On the 1st of January, 1754, Davies and Ten- 
nent went to hear Mr. Whitefield preach in the 
Tabernacle, which was a large spacious build- 
ing, and on this occasion was densely crowded. 
His theme was the barren fig-tree. Mr. Davies 
says : " And though the discourse was incoherent, 
yet it seemed to me better calculated to do good 
to mankind than all the accurate, languid dis- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 259 



courses I had ever heard. After the sermon I 
enjoyed his pleasing conversation at his house." 

WHITEFIELD'S SUGGESTIONS. . 

On January 14 Davies and Tennent spent an hour 
with Mr. Whitefield. " He thinks," says Davies, 
" we have not taken the best method to keep in 
with all parties ; but we should 4 come out boldly,' 
as he expressed it, which would secure the affec- 
tions of the pious people, from whom we might 
expect the most generous contributions." On the 
evening after this they dined with Whitefield at 
the house of a common friend. ~No one more re- 
joiced at the abundant success with which they 
afterward met from nearly all parties than did Mr. 
Whitefield. 

WHITEFIELD AND THE TRIFLING MINISTER. 

Mr. Davies says in his diary, January 25, 1754, 
" Mr. Tennent and myself dined with the Rev. Mr. 
Bradbury, who had been in the ministry fifty- seven 
years. He read us some letters that passed be- 
tween Whitefield and himself in 1741. Whitefield 
had reproved Mr. Bradbury for singing a song at 
a tavern, in a large company, in praise of old En- 
glish beef. The old gentleman then sang it for us, 
and we found it was partly composed by himself 
in the high-flying style of the days of Queen 
Anne. He is a man of singular turn, which would 
be offensive to the greater number of serious peo- 
ple ; but for my part I could say, 

" 1 1 knew 'twas his peculiar whim, 
Nor took it ill as't came from him.' " 



z6o The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



DAVIES AND THE KING. 

When in England Mr. Davies was listened to 
with great delight, and crowds attended his fre- 
quent ministrations. The following anecdote is re- 
lated of him. King George II., being curious to 
hear a preacher from the wilds of America, attended 
on one occasion, and was so much struck with his 
commanding eloquence that he expressed his 
astonishment loud enough to be heard half way- 
over the house. Davies, observing that the King 
was attracting more attention than himself, paused, 
and, looking his Majesty, full in the face, gave 
him in an emphatic tone the following rebuke : 
" When the lion roareth let the beasts of the forest 
tremble ; and when the Lord speaketh let the kings 
of the earth keep silence" The King shrank back 
in his seat and remained quiet during the remain- 
der of his discourse, and the next day sent for Mr. 
Davies and gave him fifty guineas for the college, 
observing at the same time to his courtiers, " He 
is an honest man ! an honest man ! " 

In 1758 Davies was chosen to succeed Jonathan 
Edwards as President of the college of New Jersey. 
This appointment he declined, but it being re- 
newed the following year, he, in accordance with 
the judgment of the Synod, accepted it. He did 
not, however, long enjoy this high honor, for he 
died in February, 1762, when but thirty-six years 
of age. He was interred in the burying-ground 
at Princeton, where sleep Edwards, Burr, Wither- 
spoon, Finlay, and others of the mighty dead. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 261 



Whitefield and Howell Harris. 

Howell Harris, a distinguished layman, who had 
three times been refused ordination, was the great 
apostle of Methodism in Wales. He kindled a 
fire through the principality that burns to this 
day, and his name in Wales is a household word 
and as ointment poured forth. He was the friend 
of the Wesleys, and the intimate bosom friend of 
George Whitefield, with whom he became ac- 
quainted in this wise : Mr. Whitefield had heard 
of Howell Harris, and though they had never met, 
Whitefield wrote him the following letter: 

"London, Dec, 1738. 
"My dear Brother: Though I am unknown 
to you in person, yet I have long been united to 
you in spirit, and have been rejoiced to hear how 
the good pleasure of the Lord prospered in your 
hands. . . . Go on, go on. He that sent you will 
assist, comfort, and protect you, and make you 
more than conqueror through his great love. I 
am a living monument of this truth. ... I love 
you, and wish you may be the spiritual father of 
thousands, and shine as the sun in the kingdom of 
your heavenly Father. O how I shall joy to meet 
you at the judgment-seat ! How you would honor 
me if you would send a line to your affectionate 
though unworthy brother, G. Whitefield." 

Harris promptly answered the letter, as the 
reader will here see : 



262 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



" Glamorgan, Jan. 8, 1T39. 
" Dear Brother : I was most agreeably sur- 
prised last night by a letter from you. The char- 
acter you bear, the spirit I see and feel in your 
work, and the close anion of my soul and spirit to 
yours, will not allow me to use any apology in my 
return to you. Though this is the first time of our 
correspondence, yet, I can assure you, I am no 
stranger to you. When I first heard of you, and 
your labors and success, my soul was united to 
you, and engaged to send addresses to heaven on 
your behalf. When I read your diary I had some 
uncommon influence of the Divine Presence shining 
upon my poor soul almost continually, and my 
soul was in an uncommon manner drawn out on 
your account ; but I little thought our good Lord 
and Master intended I should ever see your hand- 
writing." 

This was the beginning of a correspondence and 
the commencement of a friendship that continued 
through life, and which has, we trust, been re- 
newed to be perpetuated to all eternity. 

FIRST MEETING. 

Whitefield and Harris met for the first time at 
Cardiff, Wales, in 1739. Whitefield was preach- 
ing in the town-hall from the judge's seat, and 
Harris was one of his auditors. "I was much 
refreshed," said Whitefield afterward, " at seeing 
Mr. Howell Harris present, whom, though I knew 
not in person, I have long loved, and often have 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 263 



felt my soul drawn out in prayer in his behalf. A 
"burning and a shining light has he been in these 
parts, a barrier against profaneness and immoral- 
ity, and an indefatigable promoter of the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ." Two more kindred spirits never 
met ; greater flames of fire never commingled. 
He says : " I doubt not but Satan envied our hap- 
piness ; but I hope by the help of God we shall 
make his kingdom shake." 

HARRIS AND THE MAGISTRATE. 

When Harris was first expected to preach near 
Garth, Marmaduke Gwynne, a magistrate, and a 
very influential citizen of Wales, was determined, 
to arrest him, not doubting from current reports 
but that he was a madman, or " an incendiary in 
Church and State." He went out with the Riot 
Act in his pocket, but said to his wife as he left 
her, " I will hear him for myself before I commit 
him." Such was the nature of Harris's discourse 
the magistrate was deeply moved, and thought 
" the preacher resembled one of the apostles." 
When he had finished his sermon he went up to 
Mr. Harris, took him by the hand, expressed his 
favorable disappointment, asked his fcigiveness, 
wished him success among the people, and, to the 
astonishment of all, invited him to his house to 
supper. Through Harris, Whitefield and the 
Wesley s were introduced to this family, and 
Charles Wesley, the poet, married Mr. Gwynne's 
daughter Sarah, who made him an excellent wife. 
She was a great admirer of the Prince of Pulpit 



264 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Orators, and it is said that at the time of her mar- 
riage she put in one condition, namely, that she 
should always have the privilege of going to hear 
Mr. Whitefield preach whenever she felt so inclined. 
We are told also that after Whitefield and the 
Wesleys separated on doctrinal points, she was 
very influential in bringing about a reconciliation. 

WHITEFIELD' S ADVICE TO HARRIS. 

" Talk to them," says Whitefield on one occa- 
sion to his friend Harris, " O talk to them, even 
till midnight, of the riches of His all-sufficient 
grace ! Tell them, O tell them what he has done 
for their souls, and how earnestly he is now inter- 
ceding for them in heaven ! Show them in the 
map of the world the kingdoms of the upper 
world, and the transcendent glories of them ; and 
assure them all shall be theirs if they believe on 
Jesus Christ with their whole heart. Press them 
to believe on him immediately. Intersperse pray- 
ers with your exhortations, and thereby call down 
fire from heaven, even the fire of the Holy Ghost, 

"'To soften, sweeten, and refine, 
And melt them into love.' 

Speak every time, my dear brother, as if it were 
your last ; weep out, if possible, every argument, 
and compel them to cry, ' Behold how he lovetli 
us ! ' " 

WHITEFIELD AND HARRIS NOT TO BE SILENCED. 

At Husk, Harris and Whitefield met again* 
Whitefield says : " The pulpit being denied, I 
preached upon a table, under a large tree, to some 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 265 

hundreds, and God was with us of a truth. On my 
way to Pontypool I was informed by a man who 
heard of it that Counselor H. did me the honor to 
make a public motion to Judge P. to stop Brother 
Harris and myself from going about teaching the 
people. Poor man ! he puts me in mind of Tertul- 
lus in the Acts ; but my hour is not yet come. I 
have scarce begun my testimony. For my finish- 
ing it my enemies must have power over me from 
above." 

PERSECUTION AND TRIUMPH. 

Carleon, celebrated as the last resting-place of 
thirty kings, as well as for having furnished three 
martyrs for the truth, was on one occasion visited 
by Mr. Whitefield from choice, he having heard 
that Mr. Harris had, when there, been greatly dis- 
turbed by some of the baser sort beating drums 
and hurrahing around him. Many thousands 
flocked to hear Whitefield, but there was no inter- 
ruption whatever, though he prayed fervently for 
Howell Harris by name. He says, referring to 
this incident, " I believe the scoffers felt me to 
some purpose. I was carried beyond myself." 

Harris and Whitefield fought side by side the 
battles of the Lord, and had stupendous victories, 
Whitefield would preach in English, and Harris 
would follow immediately in Welsh. Whitefield 
had a wonderful baptism of Welsh fire. The 
whole principality was in a blaze, so that the two 
fould sing : 

" See how great a flame aspires, 
Kindled by a spark of grace 1 " 



266 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



The Tottenham Court Chapel. 

Whitefield had built the Tabernacle some years 
before, and he now (May, 1759,) proceeded to 
build the Tottenham Court Chapel, which was 
erected on the opposite side of London from where 
the Tabernacle stood. Persecution at Long Acre 
led to the erection of this edifice. The Sabbath 
after he had taken the ground he obtained £600 
toward the building. It was opened in November, 
1759. 

WIIITEFIELD'S SOUL-TRAP. 

A certain doctor, by way of ridicule, called the 
chapel " Whitefield's Soul-trap." Whitefield im- 
mediately after its dedication received a letter 
saying, " A thought came into my mind last Sun- 
day morning to go and hear you at the new taber- 
nacle, and to see what sort of a place it was. In 
one part of your discourse my heart trembled, and 
the terrors of the Lord came upon me. I then 
concluded that I must prepare for hell, and that 
there was no hope of salvation for me. I take this 
method to ask you one question, How can I be 
convinced that my past sins are to be forgiven? 
And O, what must I do to be saved ? My sins are 
innumerable ! God is just ! I cannot think I 
have any interest in the Redeemer's blood. My 
soul is full of grief! " Whitefield says, m speaking 
of this letter, " I have answered my new friend, 
and pray the Friend of sinners to make the chapel 
a c soul-trap ' indeed to many wandering creatures." 
It so proved, for multitudes were there converted 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 267 



and brought to cc walk in the light," and when 
God writeth up the people it will be said that this 
and that man was born there. There Garrick 
heard him with profound admiration ; there 
Shuter heard him, and was almost persuaded to be 
a Christian. Some of the nobility became his 
stated hearers, and took seats in the new chapel. 
Whitefield very often preached there when in 
London, and every time had fruit. He called it 
his Bethel. 

This famous chapel — one of Whitefield's monu- 
ments — still stands. It is one hundred and twen- 
ty-seven feet long and the same in breadth, and is 
capable of seating nearly four thousand hearers. 
Upon its walls are tablets to the memory ot 
Whitefield, Captain Joss, Toplady, and others. 
The old pulpit — " hallowed ground ! " — from which 
so often in days gone by rang out those clarion 
tones with which the gallant soldier of the cross 
was wont to marshal his forces for their glorious 
and successful charges upon the hosts of Satan, 
still stands, and in its mute eloquence carries us 
back to the time when Whitefield 

"With blue orbs upthrown 
Pleaded for sins that were never his own." 



Whitefield and the Sea-Captain, 

Captain Joss was a Scotchman full of life and 
energy. When he was a boy he went to sea, and 
soon rose to be the commander of a vessel. He 
embraced religion, joined the Methodists, and be- 



268 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



came acquainted with John Wesley, who beheld in 
him peculiar talents for usefulness, and greatly en* 
couraged him. Young Joss, while pursuing his sea- 
faring life, preached on board his vessel, and be- 
came known as an evangelist in all the harbors he 
visited, the sailors calling his ship " The Pulpit." 
His first regular sermon produced a profound im- 
pression. On being appointed to the command of 
a ship he was not only captain but chaplain, and 
trained a band of his converted tars to publicly 
exhort and pray. He was successful in business, 
and became part owner of a ship ; but soon after- 
ward his voyages began to prove unfortunate, and 
he met with disaster after disaster, till it seemed 
as if the object were to drive him. from the ocean. 
He was wrecked, his ship lost, and he and his crew 
were with great difficulty saved. Not at all dis- 
heartened, he went to Berwick for the purpose of 
building a still larger vessel, and while there 
preached to admiring crowds. After* he had sailed, 
a friend without his knowledge wrote to London, 
giving an account of his successful labors. This 
letter fell under the eye of Whitefield, who, when 
he heard of the arrival of the preaching captain in 
the Downs, announced that Captain Joss would 
preach the next Saturday evening in his Tabernacle. 
Whitefield then sent a message to the ship inform- 
ing the captain of the announcement he had made, 
and summoning him to London. This unexpected 
honor affected his modesty, and at first he declined 
to go ; but the messenger continued to urge him, 
till at last he reluctantly consented. To wonder- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 269 

ing masses the captain preached with surpassing 
eloquence from Whitefield's pulpit, not only on 
Saturday evening, but also on Sunday. Such was 
the impression the captain made upon the weep- 
ing, delighted audiences, that Whitefield insisted 
that it was his duty to abandon a sea-faring life, 
and devote himself wholly to the ministerial work. 
From this proposition his modest soul shrank, and 
he went on another voyage. This voyage also 
proved disastrous, so that Whitefield looked upon 
it as a warning to the captain of his being like 
unto the disobedient Jonah. On his return to 
London crowds gathered to hear him, and again 
he was urged by Whitefield to devote himself 
wholly to the ministry, but again he refused, and 
went on another voyage, during which he suffered 
more than on any former one. The third time he 
arrived in London greater multitudes than ever 
thronged to hear him, and the effect of his preach- 
ing upon his auditors was far greater than on either 
of his former visits. While he was in London his 
brother, a pious young man, fell overboard, and 
was drowned in the Thames. Then Mr. White- 
field made another appeal to him which proved 
irresistible. " Sir," said he, " all these disasters are 
the fruits of your disobedience, and let me tell you 
if you still refuse to hearken to the call of God 
both you and your ship will go to the bottom." 
Who can wonder that after such an appeal the 
captain bade farewell to a sea-faring life, and de- 
voted the balance of his life to the great work of 
the Christian ministry ? It was the influence of 



270 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield that secured him for the ministerial 
work. 

Captain Joss became an Apollos. He was so un- 
boundedly popular that he was employed in 1766 
as the colleague of Whitefield at the Tabernacle in 
London, and also at Tottenham Court. For years 
he was Whitefield's associate Pastor, and in popu- 
larity stood next to him. He continued to preach 
with great eloquence and success, crowds throng- 
ing to hear him. Mr. Berridge called Captain 
Torial Joss " Whitefield's Archdeacon of Totten- 
ham." He often itinerated into the country, preach- 
ing the Gospel with great success to delighted mul- 
titudes. Pure and spotless was his life ! triumphant 
was his death ! As he was dying he exclaimed, 
6 O the preciousness of faith ! I have finished 
my course ; my pilgrimage is ended. O thou 
Friend of sinners, take thy poor old friend 
home ! " The last word that lingered on his 
pallid lips was " Archangels." 



Whitefield and the Military Captain. 

We have just noticed a sea-captain, and now call 
the reader's attention to a captain in the army. 
They were both remarkable men, whose history 
surpasses fiction. They were both identified with 
Whitefield; their names, character, and history 
inseparably blended with his. Whitefield said 
concerning them that " God, who sitteth upon the 
flood, can bring a shark from the ocean and a lion 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 271 



from the forest, and make them both show forth 
his praise." 

Captain Jonathan Scott was from the County of 
Salop, England, and was descended from a noble 
family. He had a fine education, and chose for 
his profession a military life, and became a captain 
of dragoons. He was distinguished for bravery in 
the midst of battle, danger, and death. While 
quartered near Oak Hall, he was, while on an ex- 
cursion, overtaken by a storm that drove him into a 
farm-house. The humble tenant was a Methodist, 
and conversed with such good sense on religious 
subjects that Captain Scott was astonished, and in- 
quired from whence he had received his informa- 
tion. Pointing to a neighboring hall, the farmer 
replied that he had it from a famous man, Mr. Ro- 
maine, who was then preaching there. The next 
Sabbath the captain was present, and was surprised 
at the devout order of the assembly, but still more 
by the minister and his text, " I am the way." It 
was just such a subject as the captain needed, and 
was the means of leading him to the Saviour. He 
soon began to preach to his regiment, urging them 
to become soldiers of the cross. He preached in 
his regimentals to his troops, and the sight was so 
novel that he attracted great attention, nearly all 
Leeds turning out to hear the military hero. 

Mr. Whitefield, in 1766, wrote as follows to the 
captain : 

" What, not answer so modest a request as 
to send dear Captain Scott a few lines ? God for- 



272 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



bid ! I must again welcome him into the field of 
battle. I must entreat him to keep his rank as 
Captain, and not suffer any persuasions to influ- 
ence him to descend to the low degree of a com- 
mon soldier. If God shall choose a red-coat 
preacher, who shall say unto him, What doest 
thou ? ' 

u 1 Strong in the Lord's almighty power, 

And armed in panoply divine, 
Firm may'st thou stand in danger's hour, 

And prove the strength of Jesus thine. 
The helmet of salvation take ; 

The Lord, the Spirit's, conquering sword; 
Speak from the word ; in lightning speak ; 

Cry out, and thunder from the Lord.' 

" Gladly would I come and in my poor way en- 
deavor to strengthen your hands ; but, alas ! I am 
fit for nothing but as an invalid to be put into 
some garrison, and then put my hand to some old 
gun. Blessed be the Captain of our salvation for 
drafting out some young champions to reconnoiter 
and attack the enemy. You will beat the march 
in every letter, and bid the common soldiers not 
halt but go forward. Hoping one day to see your 
face in flesh, and more than hoping to see you 
crowned with glory in the kingdom of heaven, my 
dear captain, I am yours in our all-glorious Cap- 
tain-General, G. Whitefield." 

This letter produced a powerful effect upon 
Captain Scott, and he became a regular standard- 
bearer in the army of King Immanuel. Nobly he 
fought, nobly he conquered. Whitefield rejoiced 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 273 

3n such a fellow-laborer, and gave a public account 
of him in London, saying, "I have invited the 
captain to bring his artillery to the Tabernacle 
rampart, and try what execution he can do here." 
The captain came to London, and, placing in posi- 
tion his siege-guns, did wonderful execution. The 
slain of the Lord were many. His appearance 
was hailed with joy, and crowds welcomed him to 
the Tabernacle. At first he was deeply affected, 
burst into tears, lost command of his voice, but, 
soon rallying, he delivered a sermon that produced 
a life-time impression, and from that hour he 
became one of the most popular preachers in Lon- 
don. He abandoned his military life and pros- 
pects, and devoted himself to the ministry of the 
word ; and for more than twenty years he was one 
of the most successful preachers at Whitefield's 
Tabernacle. 

CAPTAIN SCOTT AND JOHN FLETCHER. 

Captain Scott preached on a horse-block that is 
still standing immediately in front of Rev. John 
Fletcher's church in Madeley. This wonderfully 
delighted Mr. Whiter] eld, who says in a letter to 
Rowland Hill, " Captain Scott, that glorious field- 
officer, lately planted his standard upon dear Mr. 
Fletcher's horse-block at Madeley." 

CAPTAIN SCOTT AND GEORGE BURDER. 

George Burder, the well-known author of " Vil- 
lage Sermons," etc., when a young man derived 
great benefits from the preaching of Captain Scott. 
18 



274 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Mr. Burder afterward became a distinguished and 
successful minister. He says : " Having heard 
much of Captain Scott, I was induced to hear him 
at Tottenham Court Chapel. I was exceedingly 
struck with his solemn address to the conscience 
I think it gave me new views and new desires. 
From that time I became much more fond of the 
preaching called Methodistical. I found it more 
useful to me than any other. My judgment before 
was informed, but I found my heart affected by 
this preaching." 



Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. 

Jonathan Edwards, well known in the Christian 
world as a theological giant and a great revivalist, 
had heard of the far-famed pulpit orator, and de- 
sired to become acquainted with him ; and White- 
field, having heard of the great work of God in 
Northampton under Edwards's ministry, also de- 
sired an acquaintance. With this purpose in view, 
Whitefield, in October, 1740, left Boston for 
Northampton. He thus writes concerning his 
visit : " Their Pastor's name is Edwards, successor 
and grandson to the great Stoddard, whose memo- 
ry will always be precious to my soul, and whose 
books I can recommend to all. Mr. Edwards is 
a solid, excellent Christian. I think I can say I 
have not seen his fellow in New England. When 
I came into his pulpit I found my heart drawn 
out to talk of scarce any thing besides the conso- 
lations and the privileges of the saints, and the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 275 

plentiful effusions of the Spirit upon the hearts of 
believers. And when I came to remind them of 
their former experience, and how zealous and 
lively they were at that time, both minister and 
people wept much, and the Holy Ghost enabled 
me to preach with a great deal of power. In the 
evening I gave a word of exhortation to several 
who came to Mr. Edwards's house." 

The next morning Whitefield, in compliance 
with the request of Mr. Edwards, spoke to his lit- 
tle children, who were much affected. He also 
conversed very profitably with "dear Mr. Ed- 
wards " about the things of God. " I felt," says 
Whitefield, " wonderful satisfaction in being at the 
house of Mr. Edwards. ... I preached on Sunday 
morning, and perceived the melting begin sooner 
and rise higher than before. Dear Mr. Edwards 
wept during the whole time of the exercise. The 
people were equally if not more affected, and my 
own soul was much lifted up toward God." 

Mr. Edwards was delighted with Whitefield's 
visit. He says : " Mr. Whitefield's sermons were 
suitable to the circumstances of the town," and 
then speaks of a great revival that attended his 
labors. But while these two eminent ministers 
thus esteemed, and even loved, each other as serv- 
ants of God, Edwards did not think that White- 
field regarded him altogether as a confidential 
friend. The fact is, Edwards had cautioned him 
upon the subject of impulses, and guarded him 
against the practice of judging others to be uncon- 
verted. This was touching sore places at the 



276 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



time. Whitefield seems to have winced a little 
with impatience under this metaphysical probe of 
Edwards, but to have at the time conceded noth- 
ing. They parted, however, with mutual love, 
and, whatever difference existed between their the- 
ories of impulses, both soon rejoiced equally in "a 
glorious progress of the work of God " that year 
in Northampton. 



Whitefield and Mrs. Edwards. 

Miss Sarah Pierpont was a young lady distin- 
guished alike for personal beauty, intellectual gifts, 
social refinement, and superior attainments in 
Christian virtue.* She became the wife of Jona- 
athan Edwards, and the following letter of rare 
beauty, written by her from Northampton during 
Whitefield's visit, throws much light upon his 
character : 

" October 14, 1740. 
" Dear Brother James : I want to prepare you 
for a visit from the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, the 
famous preacher of England. He has been so- 
journing with us a week or more, and, after visiting 
a few of the neighboring towns, is going to New 
Haven, and from thence to New York. He is 
truly a remarkable man, and during his visit has, 
I think, verified all that we have heard of him. 
He makes less of the doctrines than our American 
preachers generally do, and aims more at affecting 

* See her diary and correspondence in Hours at Home, Au- 
gust, 1867, p. 295. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 277 



the heart. He is a born orator. You have already 
neard of his deep-toned, yet clear and melodious, 
voice. O it is perfect music to listen to that 
alone ! And he speaks so easily, without any ap- 
parent effort. You remember that David Hume 
thought it was worth going twenty miles to hear 
him speak ; and Garrick said, * He could move 
men to tears or make them tremble by his simple 
intonations in pronouncing the word Mesopotamia.' 
Well, this last was a mere speech of the play- 
actor ; but it is truly wonderful to see what a spell 
this preacher often casts over an audience by pro- 
claiming the simplest truths of the Bible. I have 
seen upward of a thousand people hang on his 
words with breathless silence, broken only by an 
occasional half-suppressed sob. He impresses the 
ignorant, and not less the educated and refined. 
It is reported, you know, that as the miners of En- 
gland listened to him the tears made white fur- 
rows down their smutty cheeks, and so here our 
mechanics shut up their shops, and the day-labor- 
ers throw down their tools to go and hear him 
preach, and few go away unaffected. A prejudiced 
person, I know, might say that this is all theatrical 
artifice and display; but not so will any one think 
who has seen and known him. He is a very de- 
vout and godly man, and his only aim seems to be 
to reach and influence men the best way. He 
speaks from a heart all aglow with love, and pours 
out a torrent of eloquence which is almost irresist- 
ible. Many, very many persons in Northampton 
date the beginning of new thoughts, new desires, 



278 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



new purposes, and a new life, from the day on 
which they heard him preach of Christ and this 
salvation. Perhaps I ought to tell you that Mr. 
Edwards and some others think him in error on 
a few practical points ; but his influence on the 
whole is so good we ought to bear with little mis- 
takes. I wish him success in his apostolic career, 
and when he reaches New Haven you will, I know 
show him warm hospitality. 

" Yours, in faithful affection, Sarah." 

The admiration was not all on one side. Mr. 
Whitefield greatly admired Mrs. Edwards. We 
wonder not at this, for she was a very superior 
woman, worthy to have been the wife of the great 
Jonathan Edwards, in speaking of whom Whitefield 
says : " He is a son himself, and hath also a daugh- 
ter of Abraham for his wife. A sweeter couple I 
have not yet seen. Their children were dressed 
not in silks and satins, but plain, as becomes the 
children of those who in all things ought to be 
examples of Christian simplicity. She is adorned 
with a meek and quiet spirit, talked feelingly and 
solidly of the things of God, and seemed to be> 
such a helpmate for her husband that she caused 
me to renew those prayers which for some months 
I had put up to God that he would be pleased to 
send me a daughter of Abraham to be my wife. I 
find on many accounts it is my duty to marry. 
Lord, I desire to have no choice of my own. Thou 
knowest my circumstances ; thou knowest I only 
desire to marry in and for thee." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



279 



Whitefield and Andrew Kinsman. 

Andrew Kinsman was a minister of great elo- 
quence. Multitudes were by his efforts turned 
from darkness to light. When a young man he 
resided in Plymouth, and was naturally amiable 
and lovely ; but there was one thing he lacked — 
he had not yet found the true path. In bis seven- 
teenth year he was awakened by reading White- 
field's sermon on the new birth, and was soon 
brought to a knowledge of the truth. The salva- 
tion of his relatives then became the object of his 
deepest solicitude. The family were about to re- 
tire to rest one evening, when he exclaimed with 
deep emotion, " What ! shall we go to bed without 
prayer ? How do we know but some of us may 
awake in hell before morning!" This address was 
so unexpected that a solemn awe came over the 
family, and, while they were looking at each other 
with the utmost seriousness, lie fell upon his knees, 
and prayed with a fluency and fervor that greatly 
surprised them. He afterward read Whitefield's 
sermons to the family and to the neighbors, who 
thereupon persuaded him to preach, which he did 
from Ezek. xxxvii, 3 : " Son of man, can these dry 
bones live ? and I answered, O Lord God thou 
knowest." He had many seals to his early efforts, 
among others his own father, mother, and three 
sisters. The Tabernacle at Plymouth was built 
upon a site he gave, and for years he was its hon- 
ored Pastor. The lady he married was one of 
Whitefield's converts. 



280 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Mr. Kinsman was also a field preacher. He 
preached out-of-doors, and met with very violent 
persecution. At one time eight or nine drummers 
surrounded him, beating upon their drums, and 
trying to drown his voice. He showed himself a 
worthy son of Whitefield, for he was a Christian 
hero whom none of these things could move. 

A scene transpired at the Plymouth Tabernacle 
which tried his pluck, and showed he was composed 
of the materials of which martyrs are made. A 
lieutenant of the navy came to the church where 
he was preaching, with a part of his crew armed 
for a desperate assault. Having broken the win- 
dows, they entered the place in a body. Their first 
attempt was to extinguish the lights, and then to 
fall upon the people ; but a person perceiving their 
design, drew up the chandelier to the ceiling of 
the building. Baffled in that direction, they fell 
upon the people without regard to age or sex, and 
beat them with their bludgeons in a merciless 
manner. There was a general alarm and an out- 
cry of murder. Mr. Kinsman, with the spirit of 
heroism, nothing daunted, seized the lieutenant, 
the ringleader of the rioters, as he was drawing 
his sword upon him, and wrested it from his hand. 
He then dragged the lieutenant out of the church 
and took him before a magistrate, who sent him to 
the watch-house, where he remained over night. 
The next morning he was very humble, apologized 
for his conduct, and offered to repair all the dam- 
age he had done, having done which, he was al- 
lowed to depart. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 281 



Mr. Kinsman was unboundedly popular, and 
Mr. Whitefield was very partial to him, and in- 
vited him at various times to Bristol and London, 
where he preached to crowds of admirers. 

"WHITEFIELD j KINSMAN, AND THE STRANGER. 

Whitefield has been accused of selfishness, but 
there is no truth in it. He was benevolence em- 
bodied. His noble nature, his generous deeds, the 
princely record of his liberality, show it to be 
false. 

When he preached at Plymouth he was the 
guest of Andrew Kinsman and his wife. After 
the toils of the Sabbath he on a Monday morning 
said to his friend Mr. Kinsman, " Come, let us visit 
some of your poor people to-day. It is not enough 
that we labor in the pulpit, we must endeavor to 
be useful out of it." They thereupon visited the 
abodes of the sorrowful, and ministered to the 
wants of the needy. Whitefield not only attended 
to their spiritual interests, but also to their tem- 
poral necessities. Mr. Kinsman knew his funds 
were very low, and he was surprised at his liberal- 
ity, and ventured to remark that he thought he 
was too bountiful. Mr. Whitefield looked at him 
very seriously, and said, u My brother, it is not 
enough to pray and put on a serious face. 6 Pure 
religion and undefiled before God and the Father 
is this: to visit the widow and the fatherless in 
their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted 
from the world.' My stock, it is true, is nearly 
exhausted ; but God, whom I serve, and whose 



282 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



saints I have assisted, will, I doubt not, soon give 
me a supply." How true "there is that which 
scattereth and yet increaseth, and that which 
hoardeth up and tendeth to poverty?" 

Whitefield's hopes were soon realized. In the 
evening a stranger called upon him, who, on intro- 
ducing* himself, said, "With great pleasure I have 
heard you preach. You are on a journey as well 
as myself, and traveling is expensive. Do me the 
honor to accept of this ;" at the same time pre- 
senting him with five guineas. Returning to the 
family, Whitefield, smiling, held out the money in 
his hand, saying, " There, young man, God has 
speedily repaid what I bestowed. Let this in fu- 
ture teach you not to withhold what is in the 
power of your hand to give. The gentleman who 
called to see me was a perfect stranger, whose 
only business was to give me this sum of money." 

It was ascertained afterward that the gentleman 
who gave Whitefield the five guineas was not 
celebrated for such benevolent acts, but. on the 
contrary, was especially noted for his penurious 
disposition. 

KINSMAN AND THE YOUNG CLEKGYMAN. 

Mr. Whitefield at one time, when about to sail 
for America, sent for Mr. Kinsman to come to 
London and preach in the Tabernacle. On his 
arrival he dined with Mr. Whitefield at the Tab- 
ernacle-house in company with a young clergyman. 
After dinner there was a tremendous storm, ac- 
companied with thunder and lightning. As he 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



283 



and the clergyman stood by the window behold- 
ing the raging elements, as there was flash after 
flash of lightning, and peal after peal of thunder, 
Mr. Kinsman, supposing the young clergyman, 
from his being a visitor at Whitefield's house, was 
a religious person, familiarly put his hand upon his 
shoulder, and with great solemnity and earnest- 
ness repeated the words of Dr. Watts, 

" The God that rules on high, 
And thunders when he please, 

That rides upon the stormy sky, 
And manages the seas" — 

and then with peculiar pathos and confidence added, 

" This awful God is ours, 
Our Father and our love." 

These words, so appropriately introduced, so sol- 
emnly and emphatically uttered, made a deep im- 
pression upon the mind of the young minister, and 
led to his conversion. Mr. Kinsman preached the 
first sermon at the Tabernacle, and crowdu of ad- 
miring ones listened to him there. His death was 
as peaceful as his life had been pure. When 
dying he exclaimed with a faltering voice, 

"Jesus, lover of my soul, 
Let me to thy bosom fly." 

Thus died Adam Kinsman, the spiritual son, the 
intimate friend, of George Whitefield, February 28, 
1793, aged sixty-eight, having been fifty years in 
the ministry, leaving behind him a name of more 
value than great riches. 



284 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Whitefield and Rev- John Fletcher. 

Mr. Whitefield and Rev. John Fletcher were 
intimately acquainted, and were excellent friends. 
In 1766 Whitefield invited Fletcher to come to 
London and preach in his chapel. Fletcher ac- 
cepted the invitation, to the great delight of White- 
field, who wrote thus : " Dear Mr. Fletcher has 
become a scandalous Tottenham Court preacher. 
. . . Were we more scandalous more good would 
be done. . . . Still a shout of a king is heard in the 
Methodist camp." No wonder Whitefield rejoiced, 
for Mr. Fletcher was one of the purest and truest 
ministers that ever adorned the Church. 

Fletcher testifies not only to Whitefield's great 
oratorical powers, his u divine pathos," but also to 
his fidelity. c< How often," he says, " has that 
great man of God, the truly Rev. Mr. Whitefield, 
said to his immense audiences, 6 You are warned I 
am clean of your blood. I shall rise up as a swift 
witness against you, or you against me, in the ter- 
rible day of the Lord ! O remember to clear me 
then ! ' And is not this just as if he had said, 
1 We shall all be justified or condemned in the 
judgment by what we are now doing, I by my 
preaching, and you by your hearing ? ' And will 
any say such expressions are only flights of ora- 
tory ? If they do they will touch the apple of 
God's eye. Mr. Whitefield was not a flighty ora- 
tor, but spoke the words of soberness and truth 
with divine pathos, and floods of tears declarative 
of his sincerity." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 285 



"Bishop Bunyan" 

Mr. Whitefield was a great admirer of John 
Bun van, the immortal dreamer, the author of the 
"Pilgrim's Progress," and wrote a preface to his 
works. He said, "Some call him John Bunyan, 
the tinker, but I call him Bishop Bunyan." He 
thought him worthy to be a Bishop or an Arch- 
bishop. 

Whitefield had the high honor of preaching in 
the pulpit of John Bunyan, in Bedford, in 1758. 
He had been ill for several days, but, occupying the 
pulpit where that unyielding champion of the 
Cross had stood, we wonder not that his spirits 
were revived, and that he received a fresh anoint- 
ing for his mighty work. We are not surprised 
that he wrote, " O how sweet communion did 
Bunyan enjoy in Bedford jail ! I really believe a 
minister will learn more by one month's confine- 
ment than by a year's study." 



Whitefield and Rowland HilL 

Rowland Hill was a young man of rare talents, 
who was exceedingly persecuted because he was a 
little irregular. Mr. Whitefield was to him a friend, 
a counselor, and a father. Whitefield wrote to 
him, saying, " I would not have you give way ; no, 
riot for a moment. The storm is too great to hold 
long — visiting the sick and the imprisoned, and 
instructing the ignorant, are the very vitals of true 



286 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



and undefiled religion. If threatened, denied degree, 
or expelled for this, it will be the best degree you 
could take. A glorious preparation for, and a blessed 
presage of, future usefulness." At another time he 
writes to Hill, calling him his "Dear young honest 
friend," and signing himself, u Yours in an all-con- 
quering Jesus." This advice made Hill a hero, and 
lie was determined from that hour to defy all resist- 
ance, no matter from what quarter it might come. 
He was under the influence of a master-spirit of no 
ordinary mold. The stirring letters and example 
of Whitefield nerved him to surmount all the diffi- 
culties with which his path was beset. In another 
letter Mr. Whitefield wrote to his " Dear Professor " 
thus : " I wish you joy of the late high dignity 
conferred upon you — higher than if you were made 
the greatest Professor in the University of Cam- 
bridge. The honorable degrees you intend giving 
your promising candidates I trust will excite a 
holy ambition and holy emulation. Let me know 
who is first honored. As I have been admitted to 
the degree of Doctor for nearly thirty years, I as- 
sure you that I like my field preferment, my airy 
pluralities, very well ; " and again he writes' " A 
preaching, prison-preaching, field-preaching esquire 
strikes more than all black gowns and lawn sleeves 
in the world. And, if I am not mistaken, the great 
Shepherd and .Bishop of souls will let the world, 
and his own children too, know that he will not be 
prescribed to in respect to men, or garbs, or places ; 
much less will he be confined to any order or set 
of men under heaven. Both tabernacle or chapel 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



287 



its open to any captain or esquire sent of God; 
preaching should be one part of the education of a 
student in divinity." 

Mr. Hill was greatly opposed in his course by his 
parents. One of his brothers having been con- 
verted, Whitefield congratulates him thus : 

" Who knows but the root as well as the branches 
may be taken by and by ? Steadiness and persever- 
ance in the children, will be the best means under 
God of convincing the parents. Their present op- 
position I think cannot hold out very long; and if 
it does, to obey God rather than man, when forbid- 
den to do what is absolute duty, I think, is a 
safe rule. . . . 

" Yours in our all-conquering Emanuel, 

a G. Whitefield." 

Six Bishops refused to ordain Rowland Hill, but 
none of these things moved him. He continued 
on in the even tenor of his way, and was for years 
Pastor of an Independent chapel in London that 
is now called Surrey Chapel, where he preached to 
listening and admiring throngs. He was eccentric, 
but exceedingly gifted. His successor, James 
Sherman, was succeeded by Newman Hall, who 
still preaches there. Rowland Hill regarded 
Whitefield as his " much honored friend ; " while 
Whitefield took a peculiar interest in his young 
friend, and the advice which he gave him in the 
morning of life had much to do with forming his 
character and shaping his destiny. 



288 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and the Comic Actor. 

Edward Shuter was a celebrated comic actor, 
whose talents in the delineation of human charac- 
ter rendered him a great favorite among the thea- 
ter-going people. This well-known comedian took 
great delight in listening to Whitefield's unequaled 
pulpit oratory. Whitefield and he were acquainted 
with each other. At a certain period Shuter was 
exciting great admiration on the stage in the char- 
acter of Ramble. In the height of his popularity, 
when his honors were thick upon him, and he was 
receiving great applause, he went to hear White- 
field at Tottenham Court. He sat directly oppo- 
site the preacher, where he could have a full view 
of him, witness his gestures, and feel all the force 
of his eloquence. In the full glow of his appeal 
to sinners to come to Christ, Whitefield fixed his 
piercing gaze upon the comedian, and exclaimed, 
with a voice that thrilled every person in the house, 
" And thou, poor Ramble, who hast long rambled 
from the Saviour, come thou also ; O, end thy 
ramblings by coming to Jesus ! " The effect was 
almost overpowering. Shuter was greatly affected. 
He visited Whitefield, and complained that he had 
been so singled out in the congregation, saying, 
" I thought I should have fainted ; how could you 
have served me so ? " . 

Shuter went so often to hear Mr. Whitefield 
preach, and was so deeply affected under his word, 
there was great hope of his being under serious 
impressions that would be lasting. But, alas ! his 



The Pmice of Pulpit Orators. 289 



business was unfavorable to such a glorious result, 
and his goodness was like the morning cloud and 
the early dew ; it soon passed away. 

THE COMEDIAN'S CONFESSION. 

Shuter was not only pleased in hearing White- 
field, but was also delighted to hear at the Taber- 
nacle one of those who had been converted under 
his ministry. Andrew Kinsman was said to have 
been almost a young Whitefield in eloquence. 
Crowds attended his ministry; his melodious 
voice, his sprightly and pathetic manner of address, 
attracted all classes to hear him. Shuter was so 
charmed with his voice and manner that he was 
frequently among his auditors. The Word affected 
him. He was often under serious impressions, but 
such was the lamentable immorality that then per- 
vaded the stage they were soon obliterated. 

Years after, Mr. Shuter accidentally met Mr. 
Kinsman at Plymouth. He embraced him with 
joy, and asked if that was the place of his resi- 
dence. "Yes," replied he, "I have just returned 
from London, where I have preached often and to 
large auditories, and have been so indisposed that 
Doctor Fothergill advised my immediate return to 
the country for a change of air." " And I," said 
Shuter, "have been acting Sir John Falstaff so 
often that I thought I should have died : and the 
physicians have advised me to come into the coun- 
try for the benefit of the pure air. Had you died 
it would have been in serving the best of masters ; 
but had Z, it would have been in the service of the 
19 



290 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

devil. O, sir, do you think that I shall ever be 
called again? I certainly was when I was study- 
ing my part in the Park, and if Mr. Whitefield 
had let me come to the Lord's table with him, I 
never should have gone back again. But tho 
caresses of the great are exceedingly ensnaring. 
My Lord E. sent for me to-day, and I was glad I 
could not go. Poor things, they are unhappy, and 
they want Shuter to make them laugh. But O, 
sir, such a life as yours ! As soon as I leave you 
I shall be King Richard. This is what they call 
a good play, as good as some sermons. I acknowl- 
edge there are some striking and moral things in 
it ; but after it I shall come again with my farce 
of A Dish of all Sorts, and knock all that on the 
head. Fine reformers are we ! " This was certainly 
a very honest though humiliating confession from 
a theatrical performer. 

The citizens of Plymouth were surprised that 
Shuter should so frequently visit Mr. Kinsman, 
and a gentleman inquired of the comedian if he 
w r ere a Methodist. He replied, "Mine is a fine 
method, is it not? No; I wish I was. If any 
are right, they are." 



Whitefield and Cornelius Winter. 

Quite intimately blended with the history of 
Whitefield is that of Cornelius Winter, who, having 
been converted under Whitefield's preaching, be- 
came his intimate friend, was his companion on his 



lite Prince of Pulpit Orators, 291 

last voyage to America, and the one who returned to 
England after Whitefield's death, taking with him 
the last will and testament of that great and good 
man. To Mr. Winter we are indebted for the best 
portraiture ever given of Whitefield, of his habits, 
his peculiarities as a preacher, as well as for many 
anecdotes illustrative of his character and history. 
No one ever had a better opportunity to know him, 
none have better described him. 

WINTER AND THE SCOTCH WOMAN. 

Winter, when quite a young man, heard White- 
field at the Tabernacle, and was particularly 
struck with his appearance and dress. He one 
evening went to hear him, and imagined that the 
preacher during his remarks was personally ad- 
dressing him. Young Winter had, while at a card- 
table some time previously, taken undue liberty 
with Whitefield's ministry, personal characteris- 
tics, etc., by making a burlesque of them. A 
Scotch woman who was sitting by, but not of the 
party, very promptly reproved his conduct, and 
desired him to read and pray over the eighth chap- 
ter of Romans till he understood it, and added 
that, should he do so, she was persuaded he would 
no longer despise Mr. Whitefield's ministry. Her 
sudden and unexpected reproof caused keen re- 
morse in young Winter's heart, and led him to 
pay particular attention to the portion of Scrip- 
ture recommended. The seed thus sown sank into 
good soil, and was not without fruit. Winter re- 
pented, and became a new creature in Christ Jesus. 



292 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



WINTER AND THE POOR WOMAN. 

In 1755 young Winter became acquainted with 
a poor but pious woman, who felt the deepest in 
terest in his welfare. She inquired of him whether 
he had ever heard Mr. Whitefield preach, to w^hich 
he responded that he had once or twice, and had 
no objection to him, but said he could not be rec- 
onciled to his lay preachers. She then spoke in 
the highest terms of his own favorite preacl^ers of 
the Church ; and, as she proposed to have him go 
and hear Mr. Whitefield, Winter urged her to go 
to the church and hear those he had mentioned. 
To this she agreed, and they went to this favorite 
church. To her the preaching there was dull and 
dry, and she soon got tired of that kind of fare. 
They then went to hear Whitefield. In speaking 
of this event Winter says that " it was by first 
going with her to the Tabernacle that I was pecul- 
iarly struck with the largeness of the congregation, 
the solemnity that sat upon it, the melody of the 
singing, Mr. Whitefield's striking appearance, and 
his earnestness in preaching. From that time prej- 
udice had no longer a place in my breast. Mr. 
Whitefield became increasingly dear to me, and I 
embraced all opportunities to hear him." How 
much he was indebted to the noble woman who 
roused in him that feeling of duty to his God, and 
admiration for his ministry, which he afterward so 
strikingly displayed. What a powerful influence 
may be wielded by a good woman, however humble 
her station ! 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 293 



WHITEFIELD AND THE CAED-PLAYEES. 

Though young Winter had often heard White- 
field preach with profound admiration for his great 
pulpit powers, yet he was not converted, and had 
as yet no knowledge of the evil of sin and the de- 
pravity of his own heart. He was a hearer of the 
word and not a doer. 

Winter was very fond of card-playing. He was 
fascinated with the game, and when playing was 
in his native element, his favorite employ. The 
ninth of April, 1760, was a memorable night to 
him, more so than any other during his existence. 
It was an era in his history, a crisis in his being, 
important for two world?, having an influence on 
all his future destiny. He was playing at cards 
with other young men, when, suddenly recollecting 
that he could hear Mr. Whitefield preach that- 
evening, he broke off in the midst of the game, 
and the company, who suspected where he was 
going, were much displeased and enraged. White- 
field preached from 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52, "Behold, I 
show you a mystery," etc. His theme was the 
Resurrection of the Body — a wonderful theme in 
the hands of Whitefield. In the introduction he 
eaid, " We have from Sabbath to Sabbath been 
meditating upon the resurrection of our Lord ; it is 
now time we should think about our own." The 
sermon was one of tremendous power. The scales 
fell from young Winter's eyes ; he saw his danger, 
and he sought and found a refuge from the gather- 
ing storm. He became a new creature. " Old 



294 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

things passed away, and all things became new." 

He never afterward played a game of cards. 

WINTER AND JAY. 

Cornelius Winter not only became an able min- 
ister of the New Testament, but he encouraged 
and educated a number of young ministers, among 
others William Jay of Bath, extensively known on 
both sides of the Atlantic. He was a superior 
preacher, and a writer of rare clearness and beauty. 
His Morning and Evening Exercises have had a 
wide circulation, and been productive of much 
good. 

Jay wrote a life of Winter, and he says, " Mr. 
Winter was called the good man." Mr. Jay loved 
him as a father, and says he "did not write a 
page concerning him without tears." He had for 
him the highest regard, and acknowledges his " ob- 
ligation to his dear and honored friend and bene- 
factor, which," says he, " I shall never be able to 
discharge. To him I owe all my respectability in 
life, and all my opportunities of public usefulness. 
Though not a child by birth, I have been one by 
adoption. He concludes thus : 

" Loved as his son, in him I early found 
A father such as I will ne'er forget." * 

WHITEFIELD'S GEANDSON. 

Cornelius Winter was the spiritual son of George 
Whitefield, and William Jay the spiritual son of 
Winter. Mr. Jay, as the shadows of the evening 
* Life of Rev. Cornelius Winter, by William Jay. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 295 



were gathering around him, said in his own play- 
ful manner, " By the way, I am a kind of grand- 
son of Mr. Whitefield. He begat Winter, and 
Winter begat me." What noble sons of noble 
fathers ! Neither of them had any reason to be 
ashamed of their offspring. 



Whitefield and Doctor Finley. 

Mr. Whitefield seemed to have an impression 
that a silent testimony would be all that he would 
be permitted to give in life's last lingering hour. 

Dr. Finley, President of Princeton College, and 
Whitefield were very intimate. The doctor one 
day, when Mr. Whitefield was his guest, and din- 
ing with him, said, " Mr. Whitefield, I hope it will 
be very long before you are called home ; but 
when that event shall arrive, I shall be glad to 
hear the noble testimony you will bear for God." 
Whitefield answered, " You will be disappointed, 
doctor ; I shall die silent. It has pleased God to 
enable me to bear so many testimonies for him 
during my life that he will require none from me 
when I die. No, no. It is your dumb Christians, 
who have walked in fear and darkness, and there- 
fore been unable to bear a testimony for God dur- 
ing their lives, that he compels to speak out for 
him on their death-beds." 

How true to the life ! This prediction concern- 
ing himself was true to the very letter. He must 



296 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

have had a presentiment that such would be the 
case or he would never have spoken so confidently. 



Whitefield, Boardman, and Pilmoor. 

Mr. Whitefield was a kind of pioneer in prepar- 
ing the way for Wesley's missionaries. He labored, 
and they entered into his labors. 

Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor were 
John Wesley's first missionaries to America. 
They arrived here on the 24th of October, 1769, 
and laid the foundation of a noble superstructure. 
Whitefield was then in America. It was eleven 
months before his death. He showed his catholic 
spirit by calling on them soon after their arrival 
and welcoming them to the New World, where the 
harvests were all ripe for the sickle, and rejoiced 
that the reapers had come. He expressed the 
great satisfaction he felt in seeing the children 
of his old friend and fellow-laborer, John Wesley, 
on this side of the Atlantic, and encouraged them 
to go forward in their work and labor of love, 
adding, "If you were Calvinists you would take 
the country." 



Whitefield and the Indian Preacher. 

Whitefield once visited the Indian school at 
Lebanon, which was under the care of Doctor 
Wheelock. He was delighted with the school, 
which he looked upon as a " promising nursery for 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 297 



future missionaries." Here he had an interview 
with an Indian preacher by the name of Sampson 
Occum, whom he much admired, whom he invited 
to go to England for the purpose of raising funds 
for the Indian seminary. Sampson Occum was a 
remarkable man for a son of the forest. He was a 
descendant of Uncas, the celebrated chief of the 
Mohegans. At the age of seventeen Occum was 
converted under the labors of Whitefield and Gil- 
bert Tennant. He was for four years a scholar in 
Dr. Wheelock's school for the benefit of the 
Indians, and afterward a teacher there for eleven 
years. In 1759 he was ordained; and in 1766, in 
company with Rev. Mr. Whitecar, he went to 
England to raise funds for the school. Whitefield 
welcomed them there, and threw his whole soul into 
the enterprise. Whitefield was delighted with 
Occum' s spirit and with his preaching, and intro- 
duced him into his pulpits and to his friends who 
were wealthy. He was very successful in raising 
funds, and as no American Indian had ever before 
preached in England, curiosity led thousands to 
hear him. He preached to crowded audiences 
several hundred times. Dr. Dwight, among other 
notable persons, heard him, and pronounced him 
eloquent. At Kidderminster the people were so 
moved and melted under his appeals that, not sat- 
isfied with contributing once, they passed tho 
plate around and took up a second collection. 

Occum and his colleague brought back from 
England more than forty-five thousand dollars for 
the school. It was through Whitefield's influence 



298 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



that Lord Dartmouth became its friend and 
patron, and so influenced the King that he contrib- 
uted his thousands. The Indian school was 
merged in Dartmouth College, of which institution 
Mr. Wheelock was the first president. We here 
find Whitefield's name connected with Dartmouth 
College, Hanover, New Hampshire, as well as with 
that of Nassau Hall, Princeton. Americans hardly 
know how deeply they are indebted to Whitefield, 
and what gratitude they owe him. 

Occum was a wit, but he used his powers for the 
furtherance of the truth. It is said that once, while 
holding a controversy with a Universalist, he con- 
cluded by saying, "Well, well, remember, if you 
are correct, I am safe ; if you are not correct, I am 
safe. I have two strings to my bow, you have 
but one."* He died in July, 1792, at New Stock- 
bridge, N. Y., and over three hundred weeping 
Indians followed this distinguished preacher to 
the grave. His name is interwoven with the his- 
tory of his country and the history of Dartmouth 
College. How few, alas ! of his race have a history 
like his ! 



The Sergeant. 

When Mr. Whitefield was in Edinburgh there 
was a regiment of soldiers stationed in the city in 
which was a sergeant whose name was Forbes, a 
very abandoned man, who, wherever he could, ran 
in debt for liquor, with which he managed to keep 
* Whitefield's Life by Belcher, p. 386. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 299 

himself almost all the time drunk. His wife 
washed for the regiment, and thus obtained a little 
money. She was a pious woman, but all her at- 
tempts to reclaim her husband had proved unsuc- 
cessful up to the time of one of Whitefield's visits 
to the city, when she, by offering her husband a 
sum of money if he would for once go and hear 
the eloquent preacher, succeeded in inducing him 
to do so. The sermon was in the field, as no house 
could contain the audience. The sergeant was 
rather early, and placed himself in the middle of 
the field that he might file off when Whitefield 
ascended the pulpit, as he only wished to be able 
to say that he had seen him. The crowd, however, 
increased, and when the preacher appeared they 
pressed forward, and the sergeant found it impos- 
sible to get away. The prayer produced some 
impression on his mind, but the sermon convinced 
him of his sinfulness and danger. He became a 
changed man, not only sober but honest, showing 
the reality of his conversion by living for many 
years in an economical manner, and honestly pay- 
ing the debts he had contracted. That religion 
which does not make a man honest does not de- 
serve the name. 



Whitefield and His Mother. 

Great and good men have regarded with filial af- 
fection their mothers. This was the case with Wash- 
ington, Wesley, Doddridge, Whitefield, and others. 
Whitefield's mother early told him that she expected 



300 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



more from him than from the other children. He 
says, " I tried to make good my mother's expecta- 
tions, and to folio w the example of Him who was born 
in a manger belonging to an inn." She encouraged 
him in his education. She prepared the way for 
his collegiate course. She inquired, " Will you go 
to Oxford, George ? " He replied, " With all my 
heart." She made sacrifices for him, but was amply 
compensated for all in living to see him univer- 
sally esteemed, and honored far beyond her highest 
hopes. In the midst of his popularity, when his 
name was crowned with a garland of imperishable 
verdure, and crowds were thronging to hear him, 
he did not forget his aged and worthy mother. 
He wrote to her thus : u Why is my honored mother 
so solicitous about a few paltry things that will 
quickly perish ? Why will she not come and see her 
youngest son, who will endeavor to be a Joseph to 
her before he dies ? " A woman had neglected to 
procure for him some things he had ordered for 
her. A week's delay was thus occasioned. The 
moment he discovered this he wrote, "I should 
never forgive myself were I, by negligence or any 
wrong conduct, to give you a moment's needless 
pain. Alas, how little I have done for you ! Christ's 
care for his mother excites me to wish I could do 
any thing for you. If you would have any thing 
more brought, pray write. I rejoice to hear that 
you have been so long under my roof. Blessed be 
God, that I have a house for my honored mother 
to come to! You are heartily welcome to any 
thing my house affords as long as you please. If 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 301 

need were, indeed, these hands should administer 
to your necessities. I had rather want myself, than 
you should. I shall be highly pleased when I come 
to Bristol, and find you sitting in your youngest 
son's house. O may I sit with you in the house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ! Ere 
long your doom, honored mother, will be fixed. 
You must shortly go hence and be no more. Your 
only daughter, I trust, is now in the paradise of 
God. Methinks I hear her say, ' Come up hither.' 
I am sure Jesus calls you by his word. May his 
Spirit enable you to say, e Lo, I come.' O that my 
dear mother may be made an everlasting monument 
of free and sovereign grace ! How does my heart 
burn with love and duty to you ! Gladly would I 
wash your aged feet, and lean on your neck and 
weep, and pray until I could pray no more." 

The mother of Whitefield died in December, 
1751, aged seventy years. 

O how fades the glory of the orator and evan- 
gelist when contemplating the beauty of such filial 
love ! 



The Mother and the Little Girl. 

Mr. Whitefield relates the following incident: 
" A noble lady told me that, when she was crying 
on account of the death of one of her children, and 
refusing to be comforted because the child was not, 
her little daughter came innocently to her one day 
and said, 'Mamma, is God Almighty dead, that 
makes you cry so ? ' The mother, startled by this 



302 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



inquiry, blushed, and answered, 'No, my child, 
the Lord is not dead.' Said the little girl, £ Mam- 
ma, will you lend me your glove ? ' t Yes, my child.' 
Soon after the mother asked for it again. Then 
the little girl said, c Now you have taken away the 
glove from me, shall I cry because you have taken 
away your own glove ? And did not the Lord give 
you my sister, and will you cry because the Lord 
has taken her away ? ' The mother was instructed 
from the lips of her little one ; she kissed the rod, 
and the hand that appointed it, and said with great 
submission, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath 
taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord.' " 
We do not wonder that Whitefield concludes this 
touching story thus : u Out of the mouth of babes 
God has perfected praise and will forever." 



The Submissive Man. 

Mr. Whitefield was acquainted with an excellent 
but greatly afflicted man, a Scotchman, by the 
name of Buchanan. He had sons of promise, and 
daughters of loveliness ; but the beautiful flowers 
faded, and, on burying the last one, full of blessed 
lesignation and hope, he exclaimed, "I am now 
childless, but, blessed be God ! I am not Christless." 



The Young Missionary. 

" Behold how great a matter a little fire kin- 
dleth." How difficult to trace the influence of one 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 303 



Bermon, and yet what results often follow ! A lady 
in New England was converted to God under the 
preaching of Whitefield, and, feeling an ardent love 
for souls, her spirit was peculiarly drawn out in 
prayer for others. But she could persuade no one 
to pray with her but her little daughter ten years 
old. She took this little child into her closet every 
day, who witnessed her tears, and heard her strong 
cries for others. After a time the child was awak- 
ened, and her sins were pardoned ; she was adopted 
into the divine family, and happy in her first love. 
In a transport of holy joy she then exclaimed, " O 
mother, if all the world knew this ! I wish I could 
tell every body. Pray, mother, let me run to some 
of the neighbors and tell them that they may be 
happy, and love my Saviour too." " Ah, my dear 
child," said the mother, u that would be useless, 
for I suppose that were you to tell your experience, 
there is not one within twenty miles who would 
not laugh at you, and say it was all a delusion." 
" O mother," replied the little girl, " I think they 
will believe me. I must go over to the shoe-maker's 
and tell him ; he will believe me." She ran over, 
and found him at work. She began by telling him 
he must die, that he was a sinner, and that she was 
a sinner; but her blessed Saviour had heard her 
mother's prayers and had forgiven all her sins, 
and that now she was so happy she did not know 
how to tell it. The shoe-maker was astonished at 
the wonderful appeal of the little girl ; tears rolled 
down his cheeks like rain ; he threw aside his work, 
and, by prayer and supplication, sought for and 



304 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



obtained mercy. He was only the first-fruits of 
the little girl's efforts to save souls from death. It 
extended to others, a great revival followed, and 
in a few months over fifty persons in the neighbor- 
hood were raised up as witnesses that Jesus had 
power on earth to forgive sins. 



Whitefield and the Little Girl. 

A little girl seven years old, desiring an inter- 
view with Whitefield, he came to see her, and the 
following conversation took place : 

Whitefield. For what purpose, my dear girl, have 
you sent for me ? 

Girl. I think I am dying, and I wished very 
much to see you. 

W. What can I do for you ? 

6r. You can tell me about Christ, and pray for 
me. 

W. My dear girl, what do you know about 
Christ ? 

G. I know he is the Saviour of the world. 

W. My dear child, he is so. 

6r. I hope he will be my Saviour also. 

W. I hope, my dear, that this is the language of 
faith out of the mouth of a babe ; but tell me what 
ground you have foi saying this ? 

G. O, sir, he bids little children such as I to 
come unto him, and says, " Of such is the kingdom 
of heaven ; " and, besides, I love Christ, and am 
always glad when I think of him. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 305 



My dear child, you make my heart rejoice ; 
but are you not a sinner ? 

G. Yes, I am a sinner, but my blessed Redeemer 
takes away sin, and I long to be with him. 

Wi My dear girl, I trust the desire of your 
heart will be granted ; but where do you think you 
will find your Redeemer ? 

G. O, sir, I think I shall find him in heaven. 
Do you think you will get to heaven ? 

G. Yes, I do. 

~W. But what if you do not find Christ there ? 

6r. If I do not find Christ there I'll be sure it is 
not heaven, for where he dwells must be heaven ; 
for there also dwell God, and the holy angels, 
and all whom Christ saves. 



The Eleventh Hour. 

Whitefield tells of one who was converted late 
in life, at the eleventh Hour, aged fourscore years, 
who made himself exceedingly useful in visiting 
the poor, and those who were in prison, in reading 
to them, in relieving them, and thus caring for their 
souls and bodies. As the day of life was closing, 
the shadows gathering, and the night coming, when 
he could not work, feeling the importance of re- 
deeming the time, he said to Whitefield, " Sir, I be- 
gan late in life, but, by the help of God, I will work 
the harder for my Lord and master." A noble 
resolution, worthy to be followed by all who begin 
si religious course late in life ! 

20 



306 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and the Estate. 

Mr. Whitefield possessed a large degree of that 
charity " that seeketh not her own," but the glory 
of God and the good of the human race. And 
yet, unselfish and disinterested as he was, mer- 
cenary motives were attributed to him, though his 
whole life gave falsity to the accusation. The fol- 
lowing characteristic incident is related on the 
authority of his original biographer, Dr. Gillies. 

During his sojourn in Scotland, in 1759, a young 
lady named Hunter, who was in possession of a 
large fortune, made an offer to Whitefield of her 
whole estate, both money and lands, amounting to 
several thousand pounds. He nobly declined the 
generous offer. As he refused to receive it for 
himself, the young lady offered the whole for the 
benefit of his Orphan House. This he also abso- 
lutely refused. How this should crimson the 
cheeks of those who so unwarrantably accused him 
of selfish motives in raising money ostensibly for 
charitable purposes, but using the same to enrich 
his own coffers. 



Whitefield and the Quaker. 

Whitefield, having preached at Edinburgh to a 
large and attentive audience from " The kingdom 
of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness 
and peace and joy in tne Holy Ghost," was after 
the sermon called upon by a large company, in- 
cluding some of the nobility, who bade him God- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 307 

speed, among the rest a portly Quaker, who, tak- 
ing him by the hand, said : " Friend George, I am 
as thou art; I am for bringing all to the life and 
power of the ever-living God, and therefore if thou 
wilt not quarrel with me about my hat, I will not 
quarrel with thee about thy gown." 



A Wise Answer. 

The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, and Ralph his 
brother, two distinguished ministers, who had 
separated from the Established Church in Scotland, 
requested Mr. Whitefield when he went there not 
to preach in the Church from whence they had 
seceded, assigning as a reason that God had left 
it. "Then," said Whitefield, "it is the more 
necessary for me to preach, and endeavor to bring 
him back. I'll preach Christ wherever they'll let 
me." 



Whitefield and the Scoffer. 

Whitefield on one occasion was preaching near 
Edinburgh, in a field, under the shade of a vener- 
able tree, when a poor unhappy man, a scoffer, in 
order to bring Mr. Whitefield into ridicule climbed 
the tree, and placed himself on one of the over- 
hanging boughs over the preacher's head. He 
then, with monkey-like ability, mimicked his ges- 
tures, in order thereby to raise a laugh in the 
audience, and thus bring the preacher into con- 



308 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

tempt. The scorner delighted in his scorning. 
Guided by the looks of his audience, Mr. White- 
field caught a glance of him, and, without seeming 
to notice him, continued his discourse. While 
expatiating forcibly upon the power of divine 
grace with increasing earnestness, he dwelt upon 
the unlikely objects it often saved, and the unex- 
pected triumphs it had achieved. As he rose to 
the climax of his inspiring theme, and to the full 
power of his eloquence, he suddenly paused, turned 
round, and, pointing slowly to the scoffer above 
him, exclaimed in a tone of deep and thrilling 
pathos, 6i Even he may yet be the subject of that 
free and resistless grace." It was an arrow from 
heaven's quiver, winged by the Divine Spirit, and 
it entered deeply into the scoffer's heart. He 
-writhed in agony, and found no peace till it was 
withdrawn by the hand of mercy. Like Zaccheus, 
he hastened down from the tree and received the 
Saviour joyfully, and that day salvation came to 
his house, and he became a spiritual son of 
Abraham. 



The Old Scotch Marquis. 

There is no such thing as a solitary religion. 
Christians are the light of the world, and it is 
their duty to " let their light so shine before men 
that they may see their good works, and glorify 
their Father which is in heaven." 

There was an old Scotch Marquis of Lothian 
who professed to Whitefield that his heart was 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



309 



impressed with the importance of religion, but he 
wished to keep it to himself and be a Christian in 
the dark. Whitefield was a moral hero. He 
would not flatter a prince any more than a peasant. 
His favorite sentiment was, 

" Shall I, to soothe th' unholy throng, 
Soften thy truth, or smooth my tongue 
To gain earth's gilded toys — or flee 
The cross endured, my Lord, by thee ? " 

and with characteristic honesty he said to the 
Marquis: "As for praying in your family I en- 
treat you not to neglect it ; you are bound to do 
it. Apply to Christ to enable you to overcome 
your present fears ; they are the effects of pride or 
infidelity, or both." 



The Collection and the Bet. 

Whitefield, as has been testified to by Franklin 
and other writers, had tremendous power over the 
pockets of men. A military officer at Glasgow, 
who had heard Whitefield preach, laid a wager 
with another officer that at a certain charity ser- 
mon, though he went with prejudice, he would be 
compelled to give something. The other, to make 
sure he would not, laid aside all the money he had 
in his pockets ; but on listening to the appeal ol 
Mr. Whitefield, he was glad to borrow some 
money before he left the church to throw into the 
collection, and so lost his bet. 



310 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

The Aged Elm. 

But a few days ago we were in Cambridge, 
Mass., under a magnificent elm-tree, that has taken 
deep root, enlarged its trunk, risen high, and ex- 
tended its branches wide. It has defied the storms 
of hundreds of winters. It is a curiosity not only on 
account of its antiquity, but also for the historical 
incidents which cluster around it. Under its 
branches Washington first drew his sword and 
took command of the armies of the Revolution. 
Hence it is called the "Washington Elm." But it 
is also the Whitefield Elm,Whitefield having on one 
occasion when on a visit to Cambridge preached 
under its shade a sermon of uncommon brilliancy 
and power to the multitudes who had gathered to 
hear the man who was the wonder of those times. 

When the late Dr. Holyoke, of Salem — then 
nearly a hundred years old — visited Cambridge 
for the last time, he, while passing this tree with a 
friend, remarked that he had, when a student in 
Harvard College, heard the sermon Whitefield de- 
livered under that tree. 

Washington and his army and Whitefield and 
his audience have long since passed away, but the 
old tree still stands in all its original grandeur, a 
living monument to true patriotism and genuine 
eloquence. 



Whitefield and the Poor Woman. 

The following will show the kind of heart that 
beat in the bosom of Whitefield. It shows the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 311 



sympathies of his nature. A young minister, who 
afterward became very popular and useful, was 
once visiting Whitefield, when he was called away 
to visit a poor woman who had been most dread- 
fully burned, and who could not long survive. 
Whitefield at once went to her house and prayed 
with her ; immediately after his departure she 
called out, " O, where is Mr. Whitefield ! " Such 
was her entreaty, that her friends called and re- 
quested him to visit her the second time. He did 
so, and again prayed with her. The poor suffering, 
dying woman continued still to desire his presence. 
" When her friends came for him the third time," 
says the young clergyman, " I begged of him not 
to go, for he could scarcely expect to do any good. 
Your nerves, said I, are too weak, your feelings 
too acute, to endure such scenes. I shall never 
forget his mild reproof : 4 Leave me ; my Master 
can save to the uttermost, to the very uttermost" 



Whitefield, the Ignorant Man, and his Wife. 

While Whitefield was preaching one day at 
Blackheath, there passed along the road at some 
distance an old man, and " Mary," his wife, who, 
with their loaded ass, were returning from London 
to their home in Kent. Attracted alike by the 
crowd and the preacher's voice, the old man and 
his wife turned a little out of their way to hear 
"what the man was talking about." Whitefield 
spoke of Christ's suffering death without the gate 



312 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 

over seventeen hundred years ago. After listening 
awhile the man addressed himself to his beast, and 
said, " Go, Robin, it was a long time ago ; I hope 
it is not true." His wife, however, whose atten- 
tion had been arrested, and her feelings enlisted, 
was inclined to stay a little longer. But the old 
man said, " Mary, come along, it is only what hap- 
pened a long time ago." They remained a little 
longer, and, while listening to Whitefield's further 
appeals, they were both melted into tears, and felt 
the necessity of salvation. While they were on 
their way home they talked over what they had 
heard, and the old man recollected his neglected 
Bible, and asked, " Why, Mary, does not our old 
book at home say something about these things ? " 
They went home and examined the old book, and 
were astonished at its revelations. " Why, Mary," 
asked the old man, Ct is this indeed our old book ? 
Why, every thing in it appears quite new ! " Light 
was shed upon their character, conduct, and destiny. 
Mary soon chose the good part that was not taken 
away from her, and the old man found the old 
story of redemption new, and he came by the new 
and living way by which we have access to the 
Father. He became a new man in Christ Jesus, 
and no doubt they both are now singing the new 
song before the throne. 



Whitefield and the Traveler. 

c< I remember," says Whitefield, " that, when 
traveling from Bristol some twenty-five years ago, 



. The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 3 1 3 

I met with a man on the road, and, being desirous 
to know whether he was serious or not, I began to 
put in a word for Christ — -and God forbid that 1 
should ever travel with any body a quarter of an 
hour without speaking of Christ to them. He told 
me what a wicked creature he had been ; 4 But, sir,' 
said he, c in the midst of my wickedness people 
used to tell me, "You have got a good many 
prayers on file for you ; your godly father and 
mother have prayed very often for you." ' Those 
prayers that were on file for him — registered in 
heaven — were answered in his conversion, and he 
became a new creature in Christ Jesus." 

The application that Mr. Whitefield makes of 
this story is this: "Lay in a good stock for your 
children ; get a good many prayers on file for them ; 
they may be answered when you are dead and 
gone." 



The Biter Bit. 

While Whitefield was preaching at the Bristol 
glass-houses in the early part of his ministry he 
says, " I heard many people behind me hallooing 
and making a noise ; and, as I supposed, were set 
on by somebody to disturb me. I was not the 
least moved, but rather increased more in strength. 
When I was done I inquired the cause of the noise. 
I found a gentleman, (?) being drunk, had taken 
the liberty to call me a dog, and say that I ought 
to be whipped at a cart's tail, and had offered 
money to any who would pelt me. Instead of that, 



314 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



the boys and people near began to cast stones and 
dirt at him." Whitefield publicly disapproved of 
this course of action on their part toward him not- 
withstanding he had been so vile. He, however, 
ingeniously reminded them of the " sorry wages 
the devil gives his servants." Whitefield some 
days after visited his ungentlemanly disturber, 
and condoled with him on the punishment he had 
received. The man was glad to see him ; the in- 
terview was pleasant, and they parted friends. 



Whitefield and the Theater-goer. 

Some people are very fond of attending theaters. 
This was the case with a gentleman in London by 
the name of Crane. The theater had for him a 
peculiar charm. He delighted in witnessing the 
performance of tragedies and comedies. He went 
one evening to Drury Lane, but it being full he 
passed on to Covent Garden, which he found so 
crowded that he could not get in. Twice disap- 
pointed that evening, he said to himself, " I will go 
and hear Dr. Whitefield." He wanted entertain- 
ment; and he was determined to find it somewhere. 
Such an actor he had never before seen, such 
tragedies never beheld. Calvary with all its 
thrilling scenes was exhibited before him; the 
darkened heavens, the trembling earth, the rending 
rocks, and the rising dead coming forth with their 
sepulchral forms to sympathize with the dying 
Redeemer of the world. His hard heart was 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 3 1 5 

broken in pieces, his soul was melted into contri- 
tion, and his sins were blotted out, and he made a 
new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things passed 
away, and all things became new. Never did he 
go to the theaters again. His language was • 

"Let worldly minds the world pursue; 

It has no charms for me : 
Once I admired its trifles too, 

But grace has set me free." 

He became a bright and a shining light in the 
Church. He emigrated to America, and became 
Steward of the Orphan House in Georgia. White- 
field pronounced upon him a most splendid eulogy, 
saying, " He was one of the most honest men the 
world ever saw — an Israelite indeed, in whom there 
was no guile." 



The Profane Captain. 

There was a captain of a ship, a bold blas- 
phemer, one who declared his sin as Sodom and 
hid it not, one who gloried in what should have 
crimsoned his cheeks with shame. When he had 
exhausted the old oaths, and was in want of new 
swearing material, he would go on board of trans- 
port ships, and offer a guinea for a new oath, that 
he might have the honor of using it as if it were 
original. This, surely, was swearing with a ven- 
geance ! He wished it understood that he was an 
adept in swearing, that he could readily use the 
language of hell, and was well versed in the dialect 
of devils. 



3 16 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Whitefield on one occasion, while preaching one 
of his heart-searching sermons near Philadelphia, 
had this profane captain as one of his auditors. 
Whitefield drew the bow, and a well-directed arrow 
pierced the captain's heart, and he yielded to the 
Captain of the Lord's hosts. He became at once 
a changed man. The swearer became a prayer, 
the bold blasphemer a saint, the son of Belial a 
child of God, the lion a lamb. He became very 
zealous for the truth he had once denounced. He 
suffered great persecution from the enemies of the 
Cross, and was beaten by them, but he endured it 
all with larnb-like patience. When he was reviled 
he reviled not again. He was in danger of being 
murdered by some of the enemies of Mr. White- 
field, but he showed himself a moral hero, valiant 
for the truth. 



Whitefield and the Fiddler. 

The following incident occurred in Gloucester- 
shire, Whitefield's native county. There was an 
itinerant fiddler, named John Skinner, going from 
one place to another, and living on the proceeds he 
obtained for his professional services. Whitefield 
was preaching in a church in his neighborhood, 
and John was determined to interrupt him. Pro- 
curing a ladder, he placed it to a window near the 
pulpit, and, ascending, concluded to remain quiet 
till Whitefield took his text, when he intended to 
annoy him and his audience by playing on the 
violin. John heard the text, and listened to the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 317 



introduction. While he was tuning his instrument, 
the word Whitefieid was preaching went home to 
his heart with tremendous power. His guilty soul 
trembled in view of his guilt and danger, and he 
felt as Felix did when Paul was before him ; as 
Belshazzar did when he read the handwriting on 
the wall. His original plan was abandoned, and he 
began to play on another instrument a new tune. 
He became a new creature, abandoned his former 
employment, and ever after took a deep inter- 
est in the songs of Zion — in the music of the 
sanctuary. What he did with his bow and fiddle 
we are not told. He might have done as a fiddler 
did whom we once knew, who, when converted, 
sold his fiddle for a Bible, and his bow for a hymn- 
book. Or like a colored minister, whom we once 
heard say, " Before I was converted I was a fiddler, 
but when God changed my soul he converted 
fiddle, bote , strings, and all, and I have never 
wanted to fiddle since. But," said he, "one of 
you will say, don't the Bible say, Praise the Lord 
on an instrument of ten strings? To be sure it 
does. Do you want to know what the instrument is ? 
That is the instrument. [Holding up a little Bible.] 
Do you want to know what the ten strings are ? 
they are the ten commandments; now play away as 
long as you please." 



Whitefieid a Roman Catholic. 

Whitefieid was much amazed, while at Plymouth, 
to hear that it was reported that he was a Roman 



3i8 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



Catholic, on hearing which he pleasantly re- 
marked, " If I am a Roman Catholic the Pope has 
given me a large dispensation." 

•♦• 

Whitefield and the Counselor. 

When Whitefield preached at Bristol there was 
a great shaking among the dry bones, and many 
were converted ; among others a counselor. He 
so enthusiastically counseled others to hear Mr. 
Whitefield that his wife suspected him of mad- 
ness ; but he could have said with Paul, " I am 
not mad, but speak forth the words of truth and 
soberness." 



The Reproving Look. 

There is much in a look ; it often expresses vol- 
umes. There was much in Whitefield's look, and 
those who beheld it seldom forgot it. On a certain 
occasion, while Whitefield was preaching, there 
was a man of the baser sort, a turbulent fellow, 
who was very noisy, and full of threatenings of 
what he was going to do to the jd readier. White- 
field pausing for a moment, and extending his right 
hand toward the fellow, gave him a look that al- 
most annihilated him. Not being able to endure 
that reproving, withering look he rode off, glad to 
get away as quickly as possible. Whitefield re- 
marked as he was leaving, "There he goes. Empty 
barrels make the most din" 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 319 



Whitefield and the Triflers. 

Mr. Whitefield in preaching never daubed with, 
untempered mortar, or healed the hurt of the peo- 
ple slightly. In the pulpit he used great plainness 
of speech, so that he seemed to his hearers to be 
addressing each personally. A Scotch lady heard 
Mr. Whitefield preach from, " And the door was 
shut," Matt, xxv, 10. He showed against whom the 
door would be shut, and from what the sinner 
would be excluded. There were two trifling young 
men sitting near the lady, and not far from the 
door of the church, who were full of hilarity and 
glee, and were making light of the solemn appeals 
of the preacher; and during the sermon she heard 
one of them say in a low tone to the other, " O, 
well, what if the door be shut ? another will open." 
Whitefield had not proceeded far in his discourse 
when he said, "It is possible there may be some 
careless, trifling persons here to-day who may ward 
off the force of this impressive subject by lightly 
thinking, 6 What if the door be shut ? another will 
open.'" This repetition of their remark by the 
preacher came upon them like a sudden flash of 
lightning. It put an effectual stop to their trifling. 
The young men were sorely troubled under his 
pointed appeals. Whitefield went on to say with 
the utmost solemnity, " Yes, another door will 
open, and I will tell you what door it will be : it 
will be the door of the bottomless pit! the door 
of hell ! the door that conceals from the eyes of 
angels the horrors of damnation ! " 



320 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield and the Execution. 

The following is an illustration of how Mr. 
Whitefield turned every thing to account — made 
every thing subservient to his grand mission of 
saving souls. 

During one of his visits to Scotland a criminal 
was executed. Whitefield, having gone to the 
place of execution and mingled with the crowd, 
was profoundly impressed w T ith the order and 
solemnity that were exhibited by the vast throng 
who were witnessing a spectacle so awful. Many 
knew him, and were exceedingly surprised to see 
him present, mingling with the multitude on such 
an occasion. There were many conjectures raised 
concerning the motives that had prompted him to 
be there. The next day was the Sabbath, and he 
preached to a large congregation in a field near the 
city of Edinburgh. In his sermon he adverted to 
the thrilling scenes of the preceding day. "I 
know," said he, " that many of you will find it 
difficult to reconcile my appearance yesterday at 
the execution with my character. Many of you, I 
know, will say that my moments w^ould have been 
better employed in praying for the unhappy man 
than in attending him to the fatal tree, and that 
perhaps curiosity was the only thing that made me 
a spectator on that occasion ; but those who as- 
cribe that uncharitable motive to me are mistaken. 
I went as an observer of human nature, and to 
behold the effect that such an example would have 
Qn those who witnessed it. I watched the conduct 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 321 



of those who were present on that awful occasion, 
and was highly pleased with their demeanor, 
which gave me a very favorable opinion of the 
Scottish nation. Your sympathy was visible in 
your countenances, particularly when the moment 
arrived for the criminal to close his eyes on this 
world forever; then you all, as if moved by one 
impulse, turned your heads aside and wept. Those 
tears were precious, and will be held in remem- 
brance. How different it was when the Saviour 
of mankind was extended on the cross ! The Jews 
instead of sympathizing with him in his sorrows 
triumphed in them. They reviled him with bitter 
expressions — with words even more bitter than the 
gall and the vinegar which they handed him to 
drink. Not one of all who witnessed his agonies 
turned his head aside even in the last pang. Yes, 
my friends, there was one; that glorious luminary 
[pointing to the sun] vailed his brightness, and 
traveled on his course in tenfold night." 

His reason for attending the execution, and the 
application he made of it to his auditors, was very 
ingenious, and produced a thrilling effect. 



The Servant, his Master, and Whitefield. 

The servant of a distinguished Doctor of Divin- 
ity once went to hear George Whitefield preach. 
His master, who did not greatly relish Whitefield's 
popularity, thus accosted his servant on his return • 
"Well, John, what are your thoughts about Mr 
21 



322 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Whitefield ? " " O, sir," said John, " he is a wise 
preacher, a very wise preacher." u Yes," rejoined 
his master, " he is a wise preacher, but there are 
preachers possessed of greater wisdom than he." 
u That may be," resumed John, " yet he is a very 
wise preacher." His master retired into his study, 
and in a little while rang the bell for John, to 
whom, on his answering the summons, his master 
said: "John, 6 He that winneth souls is wise? Mr. 
Whitefield is indeed a very wise preacher." 



The Minister's Welcome. 

Whitefield completed his third voyage to Amer- 
ica in the autumn of 1744. He had a long, tedious 
passage, and was very sick ; but his arrival was 
hailed with joy, for his name was fragrant through- 
out New England. The Rev. Mr. Moody, an aged 
minister who had feared the Lord from his youth, 
gave Whitefield, on his landing in York, N"ew En- 
gland, where the aged minister was settled, a most 
cordial and hearty welcome. Said he, "Sir, 
you are welcome to America ; secondly, to New 
England ; thirdly, to all the faithful ministers 
in New England ; fourthly, to all the good people 
in Neio England ; fifthly, to all the good people 
of York ; and sixthly and lastly, to me, dear sir, 
less than the least of all." Did ever a welcome 
transcend this? Mr. Moody then urged Mr. 
Whitefield to preach. Mr. Whitefield was so de- 
lighted with his work he could not refuse, and he 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 323 



preached to their great joy one of his character- 
istic sermons, of which he remarks, "God was 
with me." 



The Dying Appeal, and the Resurrection. 

Whitefield soon after preaching in York went to 
Portsmouth, where he caught a cold which was 
followed by a severe illness. He was in great 
pain, and every one thought he was about to 
die. What made him feel more sad than other- 
wise was, that it had been given out he would 
preach the next evening. Three physicians at- 
tended him, and were all kindness. A man had 
been appointed to lecture in his stead, and was just 
going out of the house, and a physician was about 
administering medicine to Whitefield, when all of 
a sudden he cried out, "Doctor, my pains are 
suspended ! by the help of God I'll go and preach, 
and then come home and die." With great diffi- 
culty he reached the pulpit. All looked surprised, 
as though one had risen from the dead. Whitefield 
was as pale as death, and told them they must 
look upon him as a dying man, and that he came 
to bear his dying testimony to the truths he had 
formerly preached among them, and to the invisible 
realities of another world. He continued his dis- 
course for an hour. He says, " Nature was almost 
entirely exhausted ; but O, what life, what power, 
spread all around ! All seemed to be melted, and 
were drowned in tears. In my own apprehension, 
and in all appearance to others, I was a dying man. 



324 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Expecting to be with my Master before morning, T 
spoke with peculiar energy. Such effects followed 
the Word, I thought it was worth dying for a 
thousand times. The cry after me when I left the 
pulpit was like the cry of sincere mourners when 
attending the funeral of a dear departed friend." 

Whitefield on returning to the house was laid 
upon a bed near the fire, and was so worn out and 
exhausted that his friends thought he was dying, 
and he heard them say, " He is gone." Strange to 
tell, Whitefield recovered, though so near the 
grave. It was like a resurrection from the dead. 

In regard to his recovery, he said, " If I am spared 
to be made the instrument in making any poor soul 
alive to God, I shall rejoice that the all- wise Re- 
deemer has kept me out. of heaven a little longer." 
Twenty-six years longer was he kept out of heaven, 
and what multitudes of dead souls were raised to 
life during that time by his ministry ! 



Whitefield and the Negro Woman. 

Mr. Whitefield gradually recovered from his 
dangerous illness. Shortly after his recovery a 
poor colored woman insisted on having an inter- 
view with him. On being admitted she sat down 
upon the ground, and, looking earnestly into his 
face, said to him in broken language, " Massa, you 
just go to heaven's gate, but Jesus Christ said, 
Get you down; you must not come here yet, but go 
first and call some more poor negroes." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 325 

Refusing the Offer. 

Whitefield, in writing from America to a friend 
in England, says, " They came to me lately, assur- 
ing me that if I'll consent they will erect in a few 
weeks' time the outside of the largest place of 
worship that was ever seen in America." They 
wished him to become their settled Pastor. White- 
field, says, "I thanked them, but at the same time 
begged leave to refuse their kind offer," and adds, 
" You know that ceiled houses were never my aim" 
To many a clergyman the offer would have been 
a powerful temptation, and would have been 
accepted with joy. 



The Repeated Story. 

Whitefield's descriptive powers were great, and 
he could relate a story with capital grace. A 
minister states that he once related to him an affect- 
ing occurrence, but did it with great brevity, and 
in common conversation. Some time afterward he 
heard Whitefield, in preaching, relate this same 
story, and he did it with such pathos and power 
that the clergyman, to whom the story was per- 
fectly familiar, found himself weeping like a child 
at its recital. 



No Sneaking Off. 

Whitefield's large heart and noble soul prompted 
him to take collections for all charitable objects. 



326 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



A fire having occurred in Boston, he took up col 
lictions for the sufferers, as he did also for the 
benefit of the inhabitants of an obscure village in 
Germany which had been burned. After a most 
touching and powerful appeal for the poor Germans, 
he said, " We will now sing a hymn, during which 
those who do not choose to give their mite on this 
occasion, and for an object so deserving, may 
sneak off" Not a solitary person moved. White- 
field then came down from the pulpit, ordered all 
the doors to be shut but one, at which he took his 
stand, and held the plate himself. The collection 
amounted to six hundred pounds. What a striking 
illustration of his persuasive eloquence, and of his 
power over the pockets of the people ! 



Whitefield and the Trifling Young Men. 

Whitefield had a commanding look as well as a 
commanding voice. He was once preaching in a 
grave-yard, among the tombs, when two young 
men, forgetting the solemnities of the place and 
the hour, behaved in the most thoughtless and 
trifling manner. They continued their sport for 
some time, until Mr. Whitefield, fixing his eyes 
upon them, gave them a look that almost trans- 
fixed them, and with a voice resembling thunder, 
so authoritative was its tone, he cried out, " Come 
down, ye rebels ! " They both instantly fell to the 
ground, neither being inclined to again come in con- 
tact with such a look, or again hear such a voice. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 327 



Whitefield, the Sailor, and the Collection. 

Whitefield once preached in a chapel in New 
England when, after the sermon, a collection was 
to be taken. A British seaman, who had strolled 
into the meeting-house, observed some persons 
take plates and place themselves at the door ; upon 
which he laid hold of one, and, taking his station, 
received a considerable sum from the congregation 
as they departed, which he very deliberately put 
into his trousers' pocket. This being told to 
Whitefield he applied to the sailor for the money, 
saying it w T as collected for charitable piloses, and 
it must be given to him. "Avast there," said 
Jack, " it w 7 as given to me, and I shall keep it." 
" You will be condemned," said Whitefield, " if 
you don't return it." " I'll be condemned if I do," 
replied Jack as he sheered off with his prize. 



Dirtied his Coat for Nothing. 

There are some people who always make a great 
time on great occasions, when great men are present, 
even if they are compelled to act the hypocrite. 
They are clouds without water, trees without fruit, 
shadows without substance. A man of this sort 
once went several miles to hear Whitefield preach. 
During the sermon he was thrilled, delighted, cap- 
tivated, and so powerfully wrought upon that he 
w r as exhausted and overcome, and fell to the earth. 
When the sermon was over, and he had recovered 



328 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

from its powerful effects, he said to a gentleman 
standing by, " What a great sermon Whitefield 
preached to-day ! " To which the gentleman re- 
plied, "We were disappointed to-day; Mr. White- 
field failed to come, and another reverend gentle- 
man has just preached in his place." The man looked 
exceedingly disappointed, and exclaimed, " That 
wasn't Mr. Whitefield ! then," said he, as he brushed 
off the dirt occasioned by his falling to the ground, 
" 1 have dirtied my new coat for nothing" 



Whitefield and his Convert. 

Some people are very religious when they are 
drunk; then they are remarkably spiritual. 
Whitefield had just finished one of his sermons, 
when a man came reeling up to him and said, 
"How do you do, Mr. Whitefield?" Whitefield 
replied, "I don't know you, sir." "Don't know 
me ! why you converted me so many years ago in 
such a place." " I should not wonder," replied Mr. 
Whitefield, " you look like one of my converts, for 
if the Lord had converted you you would have 
been a sober man." 



Wonderful Results. 

Great effects proceed from small causes. "Be- 
hold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." 
Mr. Jay* preached a sermon in London, which, be- 

* See anecdote of Jay on page 294. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 329 



Ing heard by a young man of splendid talents, 
resulted in his conversion, and he became a flam- 
ing herald of the cross. While this young minis- 
ter was preaching in Reading, a wild young man, 
a speculative and practical infidel, listened to him, 
and God blessed that sermon to his salvation, and 
he also was called to the great work of the minis- 
try, and became a workman that needed not to 
be ashamed. This young man was the gifted 
and accomplished Rev. Thomas East. While Mr. 
East was preaching in the Tabernacle, a young 
man of gay habits and fine natural talents, who 
was going to spend the evening at a tavern with 
some of his dissipated companions, was induced to 
enter, heard the sermon delivered by Mr. East, 
felt its power, and gave his heart to the Saviour. 
He also became an able minister of the New Tes- 
tament. His name was John Williams, the cele- 
brated missionary to the South Sea Islands. 

Mr. East was also the means of the conversion 
from the error of his way of a gentleman of wealth. 
This gentleman and Mr. East were one day walk- 
ing in the garden, when, wishing to show his grati- 
tude, he told Mr. East that he would give him 
such an estate if he would tell him what he could 
do with it. Mr. East paused a moment, and then said, 
" We will found a college with it for the education 
of young men for the ministry. For this object the 
gentleman and his sister gave estates worth twenty 
thousand pounds, and he in addition gave twenty 
thousand pounds in money. So the whole thing 
was arranged, and the " school of the prophets " 



330 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



soon opened. That institution is the Spring Hill 
College, in the neighborhood 01 Birmingham, now 
one of the important institutions of Europe. All 
this can be traced back to the influence of Mr. 
Whitefield. What a succession of faithful minis- 
ters who all trace back to Mr. Whitefield : Winter, 

Jay, , East, Williams, all in the regular 

succession ! Apostolic men, with apostolic call, 
apostolic spirit, and apostolic success. 



Whitefield and the Reporter. 

Whitefield just previous to his last voyage to 
America preached a farewell sermon, in London, 
from John x, 27, 28, entitled The Good Shepherd, 
to a large and weeping audience. This sermon 
was taken down in short-hand by a reporter, and 
then printed. Whitefield having obtained a 
copy of it just before he sailed was exceedingly 
disappointed and grieved at its publication, and 
complained of its incorrectness. He said, "This 
morning came a surreptitious copy of my Taber- 
nacle farewell sermon, as the short-hand writer 
professes, exactly as I spoke it; but he is mistaken. 
It is not as I delivered it. In some places it 
makes me speak false concord, and even non- 
sense. The whole is so injudiciously paraphrased, 
and so wretchedly unconnected, that I owe no 
thanks to the misguided, though it may be well- 
meant, zeal of the writer and publisher be they 
whom they will. But such conduct is an mavoid- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 331 

able tax upon popularity." It was a young man 
among the crowd of listeners who had reported 
the sermon of Whitefield, and had designed to do 
him no injustice, as he was a great admirer of 
Whitefield's eloquence. When listening to this 
last sermon this question passed through his 
mind, "Which would I rather be, Garrick or 
Whitefield?" The young man was then only 
seventeen years of age. He was early converted 
to God, and became an able minister of the New 
Testament. His biographer says, " In 1769 he 
heard many discourses from the lips of the immor- 
tal Whitefield, particularly the last two that he 
preached in London, and was struck and affected 
by the eloquence of his appeals. This introduced 
him to the preaching of the Methodists, which 
appears to have been greatly blessed in augment- 
ing the current of his religious affections." 

How would the great soul of Whitefield have 
rejoiced had he known the talents and future des- 
tiny of the young man who reported his sermon ! 
That young man became one of the fathers and 
founders of the London Missionary Society > and was 
for years its able secretary ; he was also founder of 
the London Religious Tract Society, editor of the 
London Evangelical Magazine, and author of the 
"Village Sermons," which have been circulated 
so widely in Europe and America, and which have 
accomplished so vast an amount of good. The 
name of this noted man was George Burder, 
father of Rev. H. F. Burden also distinguished as 
an author and a preacher. 



332 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

Whitefield and the Diamond Ring. 

"Near the close of his life Mr. Whitefield was 
the guest of a general at Providence, Rhode Island. 
His wife and three daughters, as well as himself, 
were serious, but not decidedly religious. It was 
Whitefield's usual custom when stopping with a 
family to converse with each member on the sub- 
ject of experimental religion. But in this instance 
he had departed from it. The last night that he was 
to spend in the house came, and he retired to bed, 
but not to sleep. Something came to him in the 
night saying, c O man of God ! if these people 
perish their blood shall be upon thy head.' He 
listened, but the flesh said, c Do not speak to these 
people ; they are so good and kind that you can- 
not say a harsh thing to them.' He rose and 
prayed. The sweat ran down his brow like rain. 
He was in fear and anxiety. At last a happy 
thought struck him. He took his diamond ring 
from his finger and wrote upon one of the panes 
of glass in the window, 6 One thing thou lackestS 
In the morning he went on his way. After he 
was gone the general, who had great veneration 
for Whitefield, went into his room, and the first 
thing that arrested his attention was the sentence 
on the window-pane, c One thing thou lackest.' 
This was just the case with the general. He was 
amiable and courteous, but he lacked the princi- 
pal thing. It was a word in season. It was like 
a nail fastened in a sure place by the Master of 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



333 



assemblies. The Spirit of God blessed it to his 
soul and to the salvation of his house. 

" A granddaughter has in her possession a relic 
she prizes very highly. It is the pane of glass 
upon which Whitefield wrote with his diamond 
ring the admonitory words, 4 One thing thou 
lackest.' " — Wesley an Magazine. 



Whitefield's Old Chair. 

How much we think of an old chair ! one that 
has belonged to our ancestors ! how it is transmit- 
ted from father to son, from that son to the next 
generation ! How much we think of the chair that 
Washington or Wesley once occupied ! In the 
county that gave Whitefield birth is still pre- 
^ served a chair in which he sat. To appreciate the 
value that is attached to the relic, read the follow- 
ing lines that are upon it : 

" If love of souls should e'er be wanting here 
Kemember me, for I am Whitefield's chair. 
I bore his weight, was witness to his fears, 
His earnest prayers, his interesting tears ; 
His holy soul was fired with love divine ; 
If thine be such, sit down and call me thine." 



Whitefield and the Dying Boy. 

Mr. Whitefield preached in Boston to crowds of 
admiring hearers. But one of his most effective 
sermons, which was preached at Webb's Chapel, 



334 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

was occasioned by the affecting remark of a dying 
boy who had heard him the day before. The boy 
had been taken sick immediately after the sermon, 
and had said, " I want to go to Mr. Whitefield's 
God," and then expired. This produced a pro- 
found impression upon Whitefield, and touched 
the secret place of his thunder and his tears. He 
says, " It encouraged me to speak to little ones ; 
but O ! how were the old people affected when I 
said, ' Little children, if your parents will not come 
to Christ, do you come and go to heaven without 
them !" After such a thrilling appeal, it is no mat- 
ter of astonishment that " there were but few dry 
eyes." Few could have done this except a White- 
field ! He well understood how to touch the ten- 
derest chords that vibrate in a human bosom. 



Striking Difference. 

In the neighborhood of Boston there was a min- 
ister who claimed Whitefield as his spiritual 
father, who thus related his singular experience : 
" I went to hear Mr. Whitefield merely to pick a 
hole in his coat, (to find fault with him ;) but God 
picked a hole in my heart, and afterward healed 
it by the blood of sprinkling." 



Whitefield's Epitaph. 

Returning home to London on one occasion, 
Whitefield learned that a clergyman had, during 
his absence, been making an attack upon his char- 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



335 



acter. He was grieved that his good name should 
suffer thus, but made no effort to defend it, but 
instead uttered these sentiments, worthy to be 
engraven on a rock with the point of a diamond : 
" I am content to wait till the judgment-day for 
the clearing up of my character ; and, after I am 
dead, I desire no other epitaph than this, 'Here 
lies George Whitefield.' What sort of a man he 
was the great day will discover." 



The Orphan House. 

We have often noticed the Orphan House. It 
was so blended with Whitefield' s history, and with 
his unparalleled labors, that the reader should have 
a more full account of it than what we have al- 
ready given. Indeed, a whole volume might be 
written concerning it. It was Whitefield's pet 
project. It was enshrined in his heart's core ; it 
had a sanctuary in his inmost soul. It filled 

M His morning thoughts and midnight dreams." 
ITS ORIGIN. 

Whitefield says : " The Orphan House was first 
proposed to me by my dear friend Charles Wesley, 
who, with General Oglethorpe, had devised such a 
plan before I thought of going abroad. I thought 
it a noble design, and fell in with it when men- 
tioned to me by a friend, and I resolved in the 
strength of God to prosecute it with all my 
might." When he came to Georgia and beheld 



336 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

the destitute condition of the orphans in the col- 
onies, he says : " I thought I could not better 
show my regard to God and the country than by 
getting a home and lands for these children, where 
they might learn to labor, read, and write, and at 
the same time be brought up in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord." Whitefield considered 
himself called to the work. " I think," says he, 
" with a full assurance of faith I may affirm the 
Lord put it into my heart to build the Orphan 
House." 

HIS MODEL. 

Mr. Whitefield was a great admirer of Profes- 
sor Franke, of Germany, who founded and sup- 
ported an orphan house, and he made him his 
model. He speaks of Professor Franke thus: 
" His memory is very precious to me, and his 
example has a thousand times been blessed to 
strengthen and encourage me in carrying on this 
enterprise." After having collected a thousand 
and ten pounds in England, he, in 1739, went to 
Georgia, hired a house, and placed in it all the 
orphans he could find in the colony. Sad is the 
description he gives of them. "Most of the 
orphans," says he, "were in a poor condition, and 
three or four almost eaten up by lice." Mr. 
Whitefield had the gift of five hundred acres of 
land about ten miles from Savannah, and he obli- 
gated himself to build a house upon ft, and to 
receive from time to time as many orphans as the 
house could accommodate and he support. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 337 

Whitefield, on the 25th of March, 1740, laid the 
first brick of the Orphan House. It was a large 
building, to which two wings were afterward added. 
He called it " Bethesda," hoping, he said, it might 
be a " house of mercy to many." For thirty 
years this house of mercy was the object of his 
constant solicitude and earnest care. For this he 
crossed tempestuous seas, traveled thousands of 
miles by land, preached inimitable sermons, made 
irresistible appeals, and took up overwhelming col- 
lections. "It [the Orphan House] was," says one, 
" an institution which, if it did not do much for 
the colonies, did much for the mother country, 
humanly speaking." 

"Whitefield would never have revisited England 
as he did, nor Scotland so often, had it not been for 
his great solicitude for his Orphan House. It 
compelled him to travel, and inspired him to preach. 
It was his hobby, certainly, but by riding it well 
he made it the " white horse " of the Apocalypse ; 
the means of " going forth from conquering to 
conquer." * 

Whitefield says, "The Orphan House, under God, 
was one of the grand means in my hands of bring- 
ing me out to preach the Gospel in so many places, 
and to so many thousands of poor perishing souls, 
who, I doubt not, will evidence my commission 
thereto by being my joy and crown of rejoicing 
in the last day. ... I look upon the Orphan House 
as a part of my charge ; a family given me by God, 
to be supported and taken care of for himself." 

* Philip's " Life and Times of Whitefield." 
22 



338 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



SLAXDERS. 

Mr. Whitefield's noble project met with violent 
opposition, and men slandered his character, and 
accused him of appropriating to his own private 
use the funds which he had raised for the Orphan 
House. In order to satisfy his friends, and, if pos- 
sible, silence his enemies, he gave an account of 
every dollar received, and every one expended, and 
swore as to the same before a magistrate. He 
also had his accounts audited, and the auditors 
made oath to their correctness. It was proved on 
oath that all the moneys he had collected had been 
faithfully applied, and that Mr. Whitefield had 
" not charged the house loith a dollar for his trav- 
eling or any other i^rivate expenses when raising 
funds for said house." 

His accounts were audited in February, 1770, six 
months before his death. He had obtained by 
benefactions and collections in England, £4,471, 
in Scotland, £978, Charleston, £567, Boston, Xew 
York, and Philadelphia, £1,809; and in all had 
collected and expended for the Orphan House, 
£15,404 2s. 5 l-4d. 

THE BISHOP'S GIFT. 

"Whitefleld says, referring to a bequest he had 
received for the Orphan House, u My honored 
friend and father, good Bishop Benson, from his 
dying bed sent me a benefaction for it of ten 
guineas, and poured forth his most fervent dying 
breathings for its future prosperity." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



339 



THE ORPHANS' WELCOME. 

Whenever any orphan or orphans were intro- 
duced into the institution the following hymn of 
welcome was sung by the inmates : 

"Welcome, dear brethren, whom we love; 

Bethesda this we call; 
A house of mercy may it prove 

To you. to us, to all i 

What though our parents dear are dead! 

Yet our great God provides ; 
Our bodies here are cloth'd and fed ; 

Our souls have Christian guides." 

FURTHER HISTORY OF THE ORPHAN HOUSE. 

The Hon. James Habersham, the intimate friend 
of Whitefield, had charge of the Orphan House 
for years, and rendered most efficient service. He 
was afterward Governor of Georgia. He was the 
father of Joseph Habersham, the distinguished 
patriot wnom Washington in 1795 appointed Post- 
master-General of the United States. Mr. White- 
field in his will left James Habersham his late 
wife's ring, and constituted him his executor. 

Whitefield visited the Orphan House for the last 
time in April, 1770, and his visit was one of peculiar 
joy. The institution was out of debt, and in a pros- 
perous condition. He writes, " I am happier than 
words can express. O Bethesda ! my Bethel, my 
Peniel ! my happiness is inconceivable ! " Up to this 
time there had been one hundred and forty boys, 
and forty-three girls, clothed, educated, maintained, 



340 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



and suitably provided for in the Orphan House. 
Many of them were converted, and made excellent 
men and women. The first orphan converted in 
the house became a talented minister, the successor 
of Josiah Smith of Charleston, the intimate friend 
of Whitefield. 

Whitefield in his will, as we have stated in a 
previous article, left this property in trust to the 
Countess of Huntingdon, whom he calls " That elect 
lady, that mother in Israel, that mirror of true and 
undefiled religion." She endeavored to carry out 
the plan of Whitefield, but the Revolutionary war 
came on, and a few years after the main building 
of the Orphan House was consumed by fire, 
so that the great work to which Whitefield 
had devoted his life was all destroyed in a few 
moments. 

Bishop Asbury in February, 1793, turned to- 
ward Savannah, to " see the former walks of dear 
Wesley and Whitefield," whom he hoped " to meet 
in the New Jerusalem." The first day of March 
he went twelve miles to view the ruins of White- 
field's Orphan House. With awe he beheld the 
blackened walls. The wings, though much injured, 
were still standing, as was also the school-house, 
but the latter had sustained the greater injury. 
The whole was a mass of common ruins. " I re- 
flected," said he, " upon the present ruins of the 
Orphan House, and taking in view the moneys 
expended, the persons employed, the preachers sent 
over, I was led to inquire, ' Where are they, and 
how has it sped?'" They were all u swallowed 



The Prince of Pttlpit Orators, 341 

up ; " the whole country looked wretched to him ; 
but he adds, " Here are souls, precious souls, worth 
worlds." 



Whitefield and the Little Boy. 

Dr. Smalley, when a little boy, heard Mr. White- 
field preach, and thus describes the impression 
then made upon him : " I was altogether ab- 
sorbed in the services of this bold preacher, his 
stern look, his great voice, his earnest words ; and 
as I thought of my soul, and of Christ and salva- 
tion, I was so carried away by my feelings as not 
to know where I was. I could not keep my eyes 
off him. I saw him in his prayer, his eyes wide 
open, looking up on high, and I certainly thought 
that he saw the Great Being up there, with whom 
he was pleading and talking so earnestly, and I 
looked up to the same place that I might see him 
too." What an impression Whitefield made upon 
the mind of that little lad ! How artless and 
beautiful the description ! 



Whitefield and the Dancer. 

The mother of a young lady at Newburyport 
having told Whitefield that her daughter was 
fond of dancing, he gave her a reproving look 
which she never afterward forgot, and his reply 
pierced her conscience. Whitefield, with a pecul- 
iar tone, said, " My dear young friend, do you not 



342 



The Pri7ice of Pulpit Orators. 



know that every step you dance is on the brink of 
hell?" That young lady became Mrs. Pearson, 
who died in 1852, the oldest person in the parish, 
having arrived at the advanced age of ninety-eight. 
She was the last survivor in that place of those 
who had had the great privilege of listening to the 
magic eloquence of Whitefield.* 



Foster, Howard, Whitefield. 

Foster, in his inimitable essay on "Decision of 
Character," has very properly placed Whitefield 
in juxtaposition with Howard, whom he had just 
represented as visiting Home with such intense 
severity of conviction that he had one thing to do 
as to refuse himself time to survey the magnifi- 
cence of its ruins. "Unless," says the essayist, 
" the eternal happiness of mankind be an insignifi- 
cant concern, and the passion to promote it an in- 
glorious distinction, I may cite George Whitefield 
as a noble instance of this attribute of the decisive 
character — this intense necessity of action. The 
great cause, which was so languid a thing in the 
hands of many of its advocates, assumed in his 
administrations an unmitigable urgency." 



James, Howard, and Whitefield. 

John Angell James says : " I would not detract 
from the fame of Howard, that noble-hearted phi- 

* Rev. A. G. Vermilye: Historical Discourse, 1856. 



The Prince of Ptilpit Orators. 



343 



lanthropist, nor extinguish a single ray of the 
glory that encircles his brow. He who familiar- 
ized himself with misery to alleviate it, and ex- 
posed himself to pestilence, and died at last a 
martyr to philanthropy, is worthy of all the honors 
which an admiring nation and posterity bestowed 
upon him ; but Whitefield was a man of even sub- 
limer philanthropy than Howard. Howard's was 
mercy to the body ; Whitefield's, to the soul. 
Howard moved through his course amid the ad- 
miration of society ; Whitefield, amid its scorn and 
contempt. Statues were erected to Howard; the 
pillory would have been erected for Whitefield if 
his enemies could have had their wish. Both now 
have their reward ; but can we doubt whose crown 
is the weightiest and shines the brightest ? " 



Specimens of Whitefield's Style. 

To have properly estimated the peculiar power 
of Whitefield as a pulpit orator we 

" Should have seen him .... 

shaking all the tribes 

With mighty speech. His words seemed oracles, 

That pierced their bosoms; and each man would turn, 

And gaze in wonder on his neighbor's face, 

That with dumb wonder answered him : 

Then some would weep, some shout; some, deeper touch'd, 

Keep down the cry with motion of their hands, 

In fear to have lost a syllable." 



Yet we venture to give a few more specimens of 
his eloquence in order to convey some faint idea 



344 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



of his tremendous power. But all efforts to por- 
tray in writing the beauty of his style and the 
magic of his inimitable oratory fail to do him jus- 
tice, for 

" There's a charm in deliv'ry, a magical art, 
That thrills, like a kiss, from the lip to the heart. 
'Tis the glance, the expression, the well-chosen word, 
By whose magic the depths of the spirit are stirr'd ; 
The smile, the mute gesture, the soul-stirring pause, 
The eye's sweet expression, that melts while it awes; 
The lip's soft persuasion, its musical tone : 
such were the charms of that eloquent one ! " 



THE STORM AND THE RAINBOW. 

The following description of Whitefield's preach- 
ing is extracted from a work published in Boston 
entitled " The Rebels :" 

"There is nothing in the appearance of this 
extraordinary man which would lead you to sup- 
pose that a Felix would tremble before him. To 
have seen him when he first commenced one would 
have thought him any thing but enthusiastic and 
glowing; but as he proceeded his heart warmed 
with his subject, and his manner became impetu- 
ous and animated, till, forgetful of every thing 
around him, he seemed to kneel at the throne of 
Jehovah, and to beseech in agony for his fellow- 
beings. 

"After he had finished his prayer he knelt a 
long time in profound silence, and so powerfully 
had it affected the most heartless of his audience 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 345 

that a stillness like that of the tomb pervaded the 
whole house. 

" Before he commenced his sermon, long, dark- 
ening columns crowded the bright sunny sky of 
the morning, and swept their dull shadows over 
the building in fearful augury of the storm that 
was coming on. 

" His text was, 4 Strive to enter in at the strait 
gate, for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter 
in, and shall not be able.' 

" 4 See that emblem of human life,' said he as he 
pointed to a shadow that was flitting* across the 
floor. c It passed for a moment, and concealed 
the brightness of heaven from our view — but it is 
gone. And where will ye be, my hearers, when 
your lives have passed away like that dark cloud? 
O, my dear friends, I see thousands sitting attent- 
ive, with their eyes fixed on the poor unwor- 
thy preacher. In a few days we shall all meet at 
the judgment-seat of Christ. We shall form a 
part of that vast assembly which will gather be- 
fore his throne. And every eye will behold the 
Judge. With a voice whose call you must abide 
and answer, he will inquire whether on earth ye 
strove to enter in at the strait gate ; whether you 
were supremely devoted to God ; whether your 
hearts were absorbed in him. My blood runs cold 
w^hen I think how many of you will then seek to 
enter in and shall not be able. O, what plea can 
you make before the Judge of the whole earth ? 
Can you say it has been your whole endeavor to 
mortify the flesh with its affections and lusts ; that 



346 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

your mind has been one long effort to do the will 
of God ? No ! you must answer, I made myself 
easy in the world by flattering myself that all 
would end well ; but I have deceived my own soul 
and am lost. 

" 4 You, O false and hollow Christians, of what 
avail will it be that you have done many things ? 
that you have read much in the sacred word ? that 
you have made long prayers ? that you have at- 
tended religious duties, and appeared holy in the 
eyes of men ? What will all this be if, instead of 
loving him supremely, you have been supposing 
you should exalt yourself in heaven by acts really 
polluted and unholy ? 

" 'And you, rich man, wherefore do you hoard 
your silver? Wherefore count the price you have 
received for Him whom you every day crucify in 
your love of gain ? Why, that when you are too 
poor to buy a drop of cold water, your beloved 
son may be rolled to hell in his chariot, pillowed 
and cushioned about him.' 

" His eye gradually lighted up as he proceeded, 
till, toward the close, it seemed to sparkle with 
celestial fire. 

" ' O, sinner !' he exclaimed, 1 by all your hopes 
of happiness I beseech you to repent. Let not 
the wrath of God be awakened ! Let not the fires 
of eternity be kindled against you ! See there ! ' 
said he, pointing to the lightning which played 
on the corner of the pulpit. 6 'Tis a glance from 
the angry eye of Jehovah ! Hark !' continued he, 
raising his finger in a listening attitude, as th* 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 347 



distant thunder grew louder and louder, and broke 
in a tremendous crash over the building, c It was 
the voice of the Almighty as he passed by in his 
anger.' 

" As the sound died away he covered his face 
with his hands and knelt beside his pulpit, ap- 
parently lost in inward and intense prayer. The 
storm passed rapidly by, and the sun, bursting 
forth in his might, threw across the heavens a 
magnificent arch of peace. Rising and pointing 
to the beautiful object, he exclaimed, c Look upon 
the rainbow, and praise Him that made it. Very 
beautiful it is in the brightness thereof. It com- 
passeth the heavens about with glory, and the 
hands of the Most High have bended it.'" 

It is said that those who heard this sermon so 
admired it on account of its adaptation, its brill- 
iancy, and its effect, that they requested White- 
field to furnish a copy for publication. He said 
he would have no objections if they would print the 
thunder, lightning, and rainbow with it. How much 
there is in surrounding circumstances that give 
effect to a discourse which defies the power of a 
writer to adequately describe on paper. 

THE RIVER. 

Whitefield once, while preaching on the banks 
of one of the noble rivers of Virginia to a very 
large audience, dwelt particularly on the strength 
of depravity, and the insufficiency of the means of 
grace to convert the sinner without the influence 
of the Holy Spirit. " Sinners," said he, " think 



348 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



not that I expect to convert a single soul without 
the assistance of Him who is mighty to save. Go 
and stand by yon river, as its deep and strong cur- 
rent moves on toward the ocean, and bid it stop, 
and see if it will obey you. Just as soon should 
I think to stop that river by a word, as by my 
preaching to stop that current of sin which is car- 
rying you on to perdition." Looking up implor- 
ingly, he exclaimed, " Father in heaven, see ! they 
are hurried on toward hell ; save them, or they 
perish!" Tremendous was the impression made 
upon the minds and hearts of that audience; 
many of them as they trembled under the mighty 
appeal exclaimed, with anxious look, tearful eyes, 
and tremulous voices, "Save, JLord, or we perish!" 



Miscellaneous Examples of Whitefleld's Elo- 
quence. 

The following beautiful extracts selected from 
the works and more admired sermons of White- 
as well as from other sources, will, we are confident, 
not fail to interest and profit the reader : 

MOUNT HORIAH. 

" 4 They came to the place of which God had 
told Abraham. He built an altar there, and laid 
the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and 
laid him on the altar upon the wood/ 

" And here let us pause awhile, and by faith take 
a view of the place where the father has laid him. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 349 

I doubt not but the blessed angels hovered round 
the altar, and sang, 4 Glory be to God in the high- 
est ! ' for giving such faith to man. Come, all ye 
tender-hearted parents, who know what it is to 
look over a dying child : fancy that you saw the 
altar erected before you, and the wood laid in 
order, and the beloved Isaac bound upon it : fancy 
that you saw the aged parent standing by weep- 
ing. For why may wc not suppose that Abraham 
wept, since Jesus himself wept at the grave of 
Lazarus? O what pious, endearing expressions 
passed now alternately between the father and the 
son ! Josephus records a pathetic speech made 
by each, whether genuine I know not; but me- 
thinks I see the tears trickle down the patriarch 
Abraham's cheeks ; and out of the abundance of 
the heart he cries, 4 Adieu, adieu, my son ! the 
Lord gave thee to me, and the Lord calls thee 
away ; blessed be the name of the Lord ! adieu, 
my Isaac, my only son, whom I love as my own 
soul : adieu, adieu ! ' I see Isaac at the same time 
meekly resigning himself into his heavenly Father's 
hands, and praying to the Most High to strength- 
en his earthly parent to strike the stroke. But 
w T hy do I attempt to describe what either son or 
father felt ! It is impossible : we may, indeed, 
form some faint idea of, but shall never fully com- 
prehend it till we come and sit down with them in 
the kingdom of heaven, and hear them tell the 
pleasing story over again. Hasten, O Lord, that 
blessed time ! O let thy kingdom come ! I see 
your hearts affected. I see your eyes weep. And, 



350 The Prince of Fulpit Orators. 



indeed, who can refrain weeping at the relation of 
such a story ? But, behold, I show you a mys- 
tery, hid under the sacrifice of Abraham's only 
son which, unless your hearts are hardened, must 
cause you to weep tears of love, and that plenti- 
fully too. I would willingly hope you even pre- 
vent me here, and are ready to say, c It is the love 
of God, in giving Jesus Christ to die for our 
sins.' " 

MOUNT TABOR. 

" c Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for 
us to be here ; and let us make three tabernacles : 
one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias : 
not knowing what he said.' Peter, when he had 
drank a little of Christ's new wine, speaks like a 
person intoxicated ; he was overpowered with the 
brightness of the manifestations. 'Let us make 
three tabernacles : one for thee, and one for Moses, 
and one for Elias.' It is well added, e not know- 
ing what he said.' That he should cry out, c Mas- 
ter, it is good for us to be here,' in such good 
company, and in so glorious a condition, is no 
wonder ; which of us all would not have been apt 
to do the same ? But to talk of building taber- 
nacles, and one for Christ, and one for Moses, and 
one for Elias, was saying something for which 
Peter himself must stand reproved. Surely, Peter, 
thou wast not quite awake; thou talkest like 
one in a dream. If thy Lord had taken thee at 
thy word, what a poor tabernacle wouldst thou 
have had, in comparison of that house not made 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 351 

with hands, eternal in the heavens, in which thou 
hast long since dwelt, now the earthly house of 
the tabernacle of thy body is dissolved! What! 
build tabernacles below, and have the crown be- 
fore thou hast borne the cross? O Peter, Peter! 
* Master, spare thyself,' sticks too, too closely to 
thee. And why so selfish, Peter? Carest thou 
not for thy fellow-disciples that are below r , who 
came not up with thee to the mount ? carest thou 
not for the precious souls that are as sheep having 
no shepherd, and must perish forever unless thy 
Master descends from the mount to teach and to 
die for them ? wouldst thou thus eat thy spiritual 
morsels alone? Besides, if thou art for building 
tabernacles, why must there be three of them: one 
for Christ, and one for Moses, and one for Elias ? 
Are Christ and the prophets divided? do they not. 
sweetly harmonize and agree in one ? did they not 
prophesy concerning the sufferings of thy Lord, 
as well as of the glory that should follow ? Alas, 
how unlike is their conversation to thine ! Moses 
and Elias came down to talk of suffering, and thou 
art dreaming of building I know not what taber- 
nacles. Surely, Peter, thou art so high upon the 
mount that thy head runs giddy. 

"However, in the midst of these infirmities 
there was something that bespoke the honesty and 
integrity of his heart. Though he knew not very 
well w r hat he said, yet he was not so stupid as his 
pretended successor at Rome. He does not fall 
down and worship these two departed saints, 
neither do I hear him say to either, Ova pro nobis/ 



352 The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 

he had not so learned Christ ; no, he applies him- 
self directly to the Head ; ' he said unto Jesus, 
Master, it is good for us to be here.' And though 
he was for building, yet he would not build with- 
out his Master's leave. 6 Master, let us build ; ' or, 
as St. Mark words it, 4 Wilt thou that we build 
three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, 
and one for Elias ? 5 I do not hear him add, And 
one for James, and one for John, and one for 
Peter. No, he would willingly stay out with them 
upon the mount, though it was in the cold dark 
night, so that Christ and his heavenly attendants 
were taken care of. The sweetness of such a 
heavenly vision would more than compensate for 
any bodily suffering that might be the consequences 
of their longer abode there. Nay, further, he does 
not desire that either Christ, or Moses, or Elias 
should have any trouble in building ; neither does 
he say, Let my curates, James and John, build, 
while I sit idle and lord it over my brethren ; but 
he says, - Let us build : ' he will work as hard, if 
not harder, than either of them, and desires to be 
distinguished only by his activity, enduring hard- 
ness, and his zeal to promote the welfare of their 
common Lord and Master." 

HEAR YE HIM. 

" Did the Father say, i This is my beloved Son, 
hear him ? ' Then let every one of our hearts echo 
to this testimony given of Christ, s This is my be- 
loved Saviour.' Did God so love the world as to 
send his only begotten Son, his well-beloved Son, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 353 

to preach to us ? Then, my dear friends, hear 
Him, What God said seventeen hundred years 
ago, immediately by a voice from heaven, concern- 
ing his Son upon the mount, that same thing God 
says to you immediately by his word, i Hear him.' 
If ye never heard him before, hear him now. Hear 
him so as to take him to be your God and your all. 
Hear him to-day, ye youth, while it is called to- 
day; hear him now, lest God should cut you off 
before you have another invitation to hear him ; 
hear him while he cries, c Come unto me ; ' hear 
him while he opens his hand and his heart ; hear 
him while he knocks at the door of your souls, 
lest you should hear him saying, ' Depart, depart, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels.' Hear him, ye old and gray- 
headed ; hear him, ye that have one foot in the 
grave ; hear him, I say : and if ye are dull of hear- 
ing, beg of God to open the ears of your hearts, 
and your blind eyes ; beg of God that you may 
have an enlarged and a believing heart, and that 
ye may know what the Lord God saith concerning 
you. God will resent it, he will avenge himself on 
his adversaries, if you do not hear a blessed 
Saviour. He is God's Son, he is God's beloved 
Son; he came upon a great errand, even to shed 
his precious blood for sinners ; he came to cleanse 
you from all sin, and to save you with an everlast- 
ing salvation. Ye who have heard him, hear him 
again ; still go on, believe in and obey him, and 
by and by you shall hear him saying, 'Come, 
ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom 

23 



354 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world." 

GETHSEMANE. 

" Spiritual sloth, as well as spiritual pride, helped 
to throw this apostle down. The Sun, that glori- 
ous Sun of Righteousness, was now about to enter 
into his last eclipse. Satan, who had left him for 
a season, or till the season of his passion, is now 
to be permitted to bruise his heel again. This is 
his hour, and now the powers of darkness summon 
and exert their strongest and united efforts. A 
hymn is a prelude to his dreadful passion. From 
the communion table the Saviour retires to the 
garden. A horrible dread, and inexpressible load 
of sorrow, begin to overwhelm and weigh down 
his innocent soul. His body can scarcely sustain 
it. See how he falters ! See how his hands hang 
down, and his knees wax feeble under the amazing 
pressure! He is afflicted and oppressed indeed. 
See ! see, O my soul, how he sweats ! But what is 
that which I see? Blood ! — drops of blood — great 
drops of blood falling to the ground. Alas ! was 
ever sorrow like unto this sorrow ! Hark ! what 
is that I hear? O dolorous complaint! 'Father, 
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,' Hark! 
he speaks again. Amazing ! the Creator complains* 
to the creature : ' My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death : tarry you here and watch with 
me.' And now he retires once more. But see 
how his agony increases — hark ! how he prays ! 
and that, too, yet more earnestly: fi Father, if it 
be possible, let this cup pass from me.' 4nd will 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 355 

his heavenly Father leave him comfortless ? No. 
An angel (O happy, highly favored angel !) is sent 
from heaven to strengthen him. But where is 
Peter all this while ? We are told that the holy 
Jesus took him, with James and John, into the gar- 
den. Surely he will not leave his Lord in such 
deep distress ! What is he doing ? I blush to 
answer. Alas! he is sleeping; nay, though awak- 
ened once by his agonizing Lord with a ' Simon 
Peter, sleepest thou? What? couldst thou not 
watch with me one hour?' yet his eyes, notwith- 
standing his profession of constancy and care, are 
heavy with sleep. Lord, what is man ! " 

THE BEATIFIC VISION. 

" How happy is that soul which, refusing to be 
detained by low and vile objects, directs its flight 
to the noblest and most exalted, and, like the eagle, 
builds its nest on the top of the rocks, and keeps 
its eye steady upon the Sun of Righteousness ; for 
no beauty is so charming, no pleasure so transport- 
ing, as that with which our eyes and minds are 
feasted when our sight and eager affections are set 
upon our God and Saviour as to their only proper 
center ; when, by a wondrous, mystical, but true 
and spiritual act of vision, we see Him who is in- 
visible, behold a light far different from that which 
cheers our senses, and taste a pleasure infinitely 
sweeter than any this world can afford." 

ANGELS. 

" What tongue can express, what thought con- 
ceive, the admirable beauty, the exact order, the 



356 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

numberless multitude of the heavenly host ! The 
inexpressible joy springing from the beatific vis- 
ion ; the fervent love that ministers delight without 
torment ; the ever-growing desire, which rises with 
their satisfactions, and the grateful satisfactions 
which crown that desire, a desire always eager 
and never uneasy, always full and never cloyed ; 
the blessedness they derive from their inseparable 
union to the fountain of bliss ; the light communi- 
cated to them from the original light; and being 
transformed into the image of Him they see." 

NAUTICAL SERMON"* 

When Whitefield preached before the seamen 
in New York he had the following bold apostrophe 
in his sermon : " Well, my boys, we have a clear 
sky, and are making fine headway over a smooth 
sea before a light breeze, and w'e shall soon lose 
sight of land; but what means this sudden lowering 
of the heavens, and that dark cloud arising from 
beneath the western horizon ? Don't you hear 
distant thunder ? Don't you see those flashes of 
lightning ? There is a storm gathering ! Every 
man to his duty ! How the waves rise and dash 
against the ship ! The air is dark ! the tempest 
rages ! Our masts are gone ! The ship is on her 
beam ends ! What next ? " It is said that the 
unsuspecting tars, reminded of former perils on the 
deep, as if struck by the power of magic, arose, 
and with united voices exclaimed, "Take to the 
life-boat! take to the life-boat, sir!" Mr. White- 
field, seizing upon this reply, urged them to fly to 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 357 



Jesus Christ, the great life-boat, who could save 
them in the midst of the severest hurricane that 
ever blew. His ingenious application had a fine 
effect upon the Jack Tars. 

THE DEDICATION. 

In July, 1769, at the request of Lady Hunting- 
don, Whitefield preached the dedication sermon of 
a chapel at a popular watering-place called Tun- 
bridge Wells, thirty miles from London. The 
crowd was immense. His text was, " This is none 
other than the house of God : this is the gate of 
heaven." The sermon was one of the most elo- 
quent and impressive he ever delivered. It thrilled 
the audience like the melody of the upper sanc- 
tuary. The lofty energy of his tones, the utter 
forgetfulness of himself in the all-absorbing in- 
terest of the subject, the very impersonation of the 
truths which he uttered as he stretched forth his 
hand — " Look yonder ; what is that I see ? It is 
my agonizing Lord. Hark, hark ! do you not 
hear ? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the 
Lord ! " — thrilled the vast congregation, riveting 
the eye, piercing the conscience, and holding strong 
men spell-bound by the resistless power of his 
overwhelming eloquence. 

THE " OLD MAN ELOQUENT." 

Whitefield was the " old man eloquent." In 
July, 1770, he visited Sharon, Conn. There was 
some opposition to him, and yet Rev. Cotton 
Mather Smith, a descendant of Cotton Mather, in- 



358 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

vited him into his pulpit, and he preached on his 
favorite theme, the New Birth, from " Ye must 
be born again." The sermon was preached to an 
immense multitude with astonishing power and 
eloquence, and there was a moving and a melting 
time. He thus concluded his eloquent discourse: 
" Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south ; 
blow upon this garden that the spices thereof may- 
flow out. Let my beloved come into this garden, 
and eat his pleasant fruits." The sermon made a 
life-time impression on those who heard it. It was 
an era in the history of the place, and was talked 
of as a day of wonder till that generation had 
passed away. So impressed were the people of 
Sharon with his great oratorical powers that it is 
no wonder they followed him into the adjoining 
towns for several successive days in order to hear 
him again and again. 

THUNDER AND ELOQUENCE. 

The grander the occasion the more sublime was 
Whitefield. The majestic thunder, the vivid light- 
ning, the terrific storm fired his soul, and inspired 
him with sentiments grand, sublime, and magnifi- 
cent. On such occasions he transcended himself, 
and was superlatively eloquent. 

At one time Whitefield was preaching in Bos- 
ton, his theme being " The Wonders of Creation, 
Providence, and Redemption." The theme was 
grand, and the sermon of almost unrivaled sub- 
limity. In the midst of the discourse a violent 
storm arose, the clouds gathered thick and heavy. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 359 

the rain descended in torrents, the lightnings 
flashed, deep-toned thunder rolled over their heads. 
The audience was deeply affected. They were 
awe-stricken, and anxiety was depicted on everv 
countenance. Whitefield was 

" Calm on tumult's wheel, 
'Midst busy multitudes alone." 

He closed his book and went into one of the 
wings of the pulpit, and kneeling down, he with 
the deepest feeling and exquisite taste repeated, 

" Hark, the Eternal rends the sky ! 

A mighty voice before him goes — 
A voice of music to his friends, 

But threat'ning thunder to his foes : 
Come, children, to your Father's arms; 

Hide in the chambers of my grace 
Till the fierce storm be overblown, 

And my revenging fury cease." 

Then said he, " Let us rise and devoutly sing to 
the praise and glory of God this hymn to the tune 
of c Old Hundred.' " The whole audience instantly 
arose and poured forth the sacred song in a style 
of simple grandeur and heartfelt devotion seldom 
equaled, perhaps never surpassed. By the time 
they had finished singing the hymn the storm was 
over, the rain had ceased, the thunders were hushed, 
the lightnings still, the clouds were dispersed, and 
the sun shone forth in beauty and splendor. He 
proceeded with the remainder of the services, 
which were calculated to still further deepen the 
impressions made by the storm. He then pro- 



360 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



nounced the benediction, which the audience re- 
ceived with devotional feelings, and left with 
weeping eyes, subdued feelings, and hearts over- 
flowing with gratitude to the God of creation, 
whose wonders they had been called upon to 
contemplate. 



Whitefield's Aphorisms. 

We have culled the following aphorisms from 
Whitefield's sermons and letters. His letters are 
over fifteen hundred in number, and abound in 
scraps of history and biography, in cautions, coun- 
sels, reproofs, and encouragements; and in wise, 
pithy sayings, which are very characteristic of their 
author. Some of them exhibit his wit, which 
sparkled occasionally, though it was always chas- 
tened. He possessed the power of condensation 
to a very great degree, expressing much in few 
words : a world of meaning in a single sentence, 
a volume in a single line. 

THE FOUNTAIN— HEAD. 

" Perhaps our consolations come sweetest when 
immediately derived from the fountain-head. 
Springs fail ; the fountain never can nor will." 

WEAK MINDS. 

" Weak minds soon grow giddy with power, and 
they become pests, instead of helps, to the Church 
of God." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



361 



DIVINITY OF PRATER. 

" It is most God-like to be frequent in interces- 
sion. It is the constant employment of the Son 
of God in heaven." 



PROFESSION AND PRACTICE. 

" ' Be ye warmed, and be ye filled,' is the fur- 
thest most professors go. Words are cheap, and 
cost nothing, and therefore many can say they 
pity, and that extremely too, when at the same 
time their practice shows it is only verbal, and not 
a real compassion." 

UTILITY OF TRUTH. 

"All truths unless, productive of holiness and 
love, are of no avail. They may float upon the 
surface of the understanding; but this is to no 
purpose unless they transform the heart." 

SILVER-DUST. 

" Is it not strange that a little silver-dust should 
blind our eyes, and divert them from beholding 
Him who is altogether lovely." 

THE CROSS. 

" The cross of Christ ; it is lined with love, and 
will ere long be exchanged for a crown," 



TEMPLE BUILDERS. 

" If we would be temple builders we must have 
a temple builder's lot. I mean, hold a sword in 



362 The Pri7ice of Pulpit Orators. 



one hand and a trowel in the other. Faithful 
Nehemiahs have many Sanballats to deal with." 

" Building the walls of the New Jerusalem is 
what the profane and formalist do not approve of. 
Would you be a Nehemiah, and no Sanballat to 
oppose you ?" 

HOLIDAYS. 

" I hope to spend the holidays in London. It 
is the Christian's privilege to keep holy day all 
the year." 

ELIJAHS. 

" Never fear, even ravens will be sent to feed 
and nourish upright Elijahs." 

CONTEMPT. 

" It took twice seven years of pretty close inti- 
macy with contempt to make contempt an agree- 
able companion." 

HUMILITY. 

" I cannot well buy humility at too dear a rate ; 
it is not sudden flashes of joy, but having the 
humility of Christ that makes us Christians." 

YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 

" We should bear with young Christians, and 
not knock out a young child's brains because he 
cannot speak in blank verse." 

HELL. 

"What is hell, but to be absent from Christ? 
If there was no other that would be hell enough." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 363 

„„„. 

" You cannot reconcile two irreconcilable differ- 
ences, God and mammon, the friendship of the 
world with the favor of God." 

FRIENDS. 

" Nothing gives me more comfort, next to the 
assurance of the eternal continuance of God's love, 
than the pleasing reflection of having so many 
Christian friends to watch with my soul. I wish 
they would smite me friendly, and reprove me 
oftener than they do; I would force my proud 
heart to thank them." 

CATHOLICITY. 

" I wish all names among the saints of God were 
swallowed up in that one of Christian. I long 
for professors to leave off placing religion in say- 
ing, ' I am a Churchman,' ' I am a Dissenter.' My 
language to such is, c Are you of Christ ? If so, 
I love you with all my heart.' " 

MOUNTAINS. 

•''What are all these mountains in the sight of 
our great Zerubbabel? Let him but speak the 
word and they shall become a plain." 

POLICY. 

" Worldly-wise men, serpent-like, so turn and 
wind that they have many ways to slip through 
and creep out at, which simple-hearted, single- 
eyed souls know nothing of, and if they did, could 



364 TJie Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



not follow after them. Honesty is the best policy 
and will in the end (whether we seek it or Dot) 
get the better of all." 

MITES. 

" Our two mites, a vile body and a sinful soul, 
are all that He requires, and shall he not have 
those ?" 

LUKEWARM** ESS. , 

"The Lord never threatened to spew any 
Church out of his mouth for being too hot, but for 
being neither hot nor cold." 

THE STEPS OF THE LADDER. 

" One part of our entertainment in heaven will 
be to count the steps of the ladder by which God 
brought us there." 

LAWYERS. 

" All lawyers believe in God and the devil, for 
in all their criminal indictments they state that 
the offender acted without fear of God and insti- 
gated by the devil." 

CHANGE. 

" We have not only a new house to build up, 
but also an old house to tear down." 



THE SEAMLESS COAT. 

"What a pity it is Christ's seamless coat should 
be rent in pieces on account of things in them- 
selves purely indifferent !" 



The Prince of Ptdpit Orators. 365 



BUILDING. 

" Why will God's children build BabeVs ? Why 
will they flatter themselves that God owns and ap- 
proves of them, because he suffers them to build 
high ? In mercy to them such building must 
come down. Lay your foundation deep in the 
knowledge of yourself, and vou cannot build too 
high." 

SHIBBOLETH. 

" Some say Shibboleth with a good grace and a 
very proper accent; others as yet can only say 
Sibboleth; but I have heard of one who can teach 
the tongue of the stammerer to speak plain." 

MARRIAGE. 

" We should call Christ to the marriage. It is 
through a neglect of this that we have so many 
unhappy matches." 

PURE FIRE. 

" I want to see all in a flame of fire. You know 
what kind of fire I mean. I desire that none of 
my wild-fire may be mixed with the pure fire of 
holy zeal coming from God's altar." 

THE WISH. 

To a minister he said : " May He who kissed 
away the soul of his beloved Moses appoint a 
Joshua to succeed you when he bids you come 
up to the mount and die !" 



366 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

SHORN LOCKS. 

After a fit of sickness he said, "But ray locks 
are cut ; natural strength fails. Jesus can renew ! 
Jesus can cause them to grow out again." 

THE CHARIOT. 

Writing to a man about a carriage, he says : 
"The Lord cause you to ride daily in the chariot 
of his love." 

ISAAC. 

To an afflicted family he writes : " I hope your 
Isaac will be spared ; if not, Aaron-like, may you 
hold your peace ! " 

RUBS. 

" I have met with some unexpected rubs, but not 
one more than was absolutely necessary to humble 
my proud heart." 

JORDAN. 

" Fear not to go through Jordan, for the great 
High-priest stands ready to guide you, and will 
land you safe in Canaan." 

MYSTERIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

" When our Lord has any thing great to do he is 
generally a great while bringing it about, and many 
unaccountable dark providences generally inter- 
vene. Thus it was with Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, 
Moses, and all the eminent men of God in the 
days of old." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



367 



THE HARBOR. 

"I was near port, but have put out to sea again. 
O that it may be to pilot in some more dear souls ! 
May we at last enter port with a full gale ! We 
are sure of getting safe at last into the harbor, for 
Jesus is our pilot." 

RELIANCE ON DIVINE GRACE. 

"I have just put my soul as a blank into the 
hands of Jesus, my Redeemer, and desired him to 
write on it what he pleases ; I know it will be his 
image." 

GOD'S PARDONING LOVE. 

" When, like Noatts dove, we have been wander- 
ing about in a fruitless search after happiness, and 
have found no rest for the sole of our feet, God is 
ready to reach out his merciful hand, and receive 
us into his ark." 

CSES OF ADVERSITY. 

u All trials are sent for two ends : that we may 
be better acquainted with the Lord Jesus, and with 
our own wicked hearts." 

" Luther said that he never undertook any fresh 
work but he was visited either with a fit of sick- 
ness or with some powerful temptation." 

MINISTERS. 

"Every minister should be a Boanerges, a son 
of thunder, as well as a Barnabas, a son of consola- 
tion. There was an earthquake and a whirlwind 



368 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

before the still, small voice came to Elijah ! We 
must show the people they are condemned, and 
then show them how they must be saved." 

THE DOLPHIN. 

A Christian may learn a lesson of instruction 
from every thing he meets with. " I was on board 
a vessel once," says Whitefield, " when a dolphin 
was caught and brought on board. It was most 
beautiful when first drawn out of the water, but its 
color soon changed. Just so is man : he flourishes 
for a little while ; but when once death cometh, 
how quickly his beauty is gone." 

EXTEMPORE PREACHING. 

Whitefield began very early to pray and preach 
extemporaneously. In 1739 he said, "I find greater 
light and knowledge by preaching extempore. So 
I fear I shall grieve the Spirit if I do not go on to 
speak as he gives utterance." 

PERSECUTION. 

;c It is impossible to enumerate in what various 
shapes persecution has appeared. It is a many- 
headed monster, insatiable as hell, cruel as the 
grave ; and, what is worse, it generally appears under 
the cloak of religion. The Israelites the more they 
were oppressed, the more they increased. This was 
the case with the Apostles and their immediate 
followers, so that Tertullian compares the Church 
in his time to a mowed field : the more frequently 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



369 



it is cut, the more it grows. The blood of the 
martyrs was always the seed of the Church." 

BIRTHPLACE. 

"I am now writing in the room where I was 
born. Blessed be God, I know there is a place 
where I was born again ! That is my native city 
indeed." 

THE CAUTION. 

u Let none of my friends cry out to such a slug- 
gish, lukewarm, unprofitable worm, 'Spare thy- 
self! ' Rather spur me up I pray you, with an 
6 Awake, thou that steepest, and begin to do some- 
thing for thy God!'" 

ITINERANCY. 

" An itinerant pilgrimage-life is what I choose ; 
and why ? It was the life of my blessed Lord. 
Had I a thousand souls and bodies they should all 
be itinerants for Jesus Christ." 

M O that I may never cease itinerating ! till I sit 
down in the kingdom of heaven ! " 

" O for a pilgrim's heart with my pilgrim life ! " 

THE DEVIL'S BLASTS. 

" The light that has been given us is not to be 
put under a bushel, but on a candlestick. Satan, 
indeed, by blasts of persecution, will do all he can 
to put it out. If our light be the light of Christ, 
those blasts will only cause it to shine the 
brighter." 

24 



37° 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



PREACHING CHRIST. 

" Preaching Christ I find to be the best means 
of winning sinners and building up saints. This, 
done with a single eye and a disinterested heart, 
will make its way through all opposition." 

SCARS. 

"I wish to have the honor to die fighting. I 
would have all my scars in my breast. Methinks 
I would not be wounded running away, or skulk- 
ing into a hiding-place." 

" Though I long to go to heaven to see my 
glorious Master, what a poor figure shall I make 
among the saints, confessors, and martyrs that 
surround his throne, without some deeper signa- 
tures of his Divine impress, without more scars of 
Christian honor." 

" I do not envy those who choose to sleep in a 
whole skin." 

TEMPTATION. 

" We find our Saviour was led into the wilder 
ness before he entered upon his public ministry, 
and so must we too if we would walk in his steps.** 

LIGHT. 

"I would have Jesus all in all. Like a pure 
crystal, I would transmute all the light he poureth 
on me, and never claim as my own what is his sole 
property." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



371 



HUMILITY. 

" Catch an old Christian without humility if you 
can. It is nothing but this flesh of ours, and those 
cursed seeds of the proud apostate which lie lurk- 
ing within us, that make us think ourselves worthy 
of the air we breathe. When our eyes are opened 
by the influence of divine grace we then shall be- 
gin to think of ourselves 6 as we ought to think 
even that Christ is all in all, and we less than 
nothing." 

POSTAGE. 

" Friends' letters always pay postage. O let us 
send often by post to heaven! I mean on the 
wings of faith and love. From thence we shall 
always receive good answers, though not always 
in our own way and time." 

EARNESTNESS. 

" I love those that thunder out the word. The 
Christian world is in a deep sleep. Nothing but 
a loud voice can awaken them out of it." 

NOT EASILY AFFECTED. 

" All that people say of me affects me but little, 
because I know of worse than they can say con- 
cerning me." 

TRANSPARENT. 

" I care not if there were a window in my heart 
for all mankind to see the uprightness of my 
intentions." 



372 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



THE HEART. 

" My heart is like Ezekiel's temple, the farther I 
search into it the greater abominations I discover ; 
but there is a fountain opened for sin and all un- 

cleanness." 

THE ROD. 

" I have a few strokes of my Father's rod from 
time to time, but I find that his rod as well as his 
staff do comfort. He who wounds also heals, and 
in glory we shall find that his loving correction 
has made us great." 

DISSIMULATION. 

" How did Jacob smart all his life-time afterward 
for getting the blessing by a lie. The way of 
duty is the way of safety." 

BLOSSOMS. 

"Awakening times are always like the spring: 
many blossoms appear, and perhaps but little solid 
fruit is produced after all." 

HALF-WAY RELIGION. 

"It is this half-way religion that undoes the 
professing world. The heart can never be at 
unity with itself till it is wholly centered in God." 

THE SERPENT'S HISS. 

" We must expect the serpent will hiss whenever 
the Gospel-seed of the woman is coming into a 
place to bruise his head." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



373 



FORMALISTS. 

" I find no such enemies to the cross of Christ 
as those who keep the form of religion, and are 
orthodox in their notions, but at the same time 
are ignorant of an experimental acquaintance with 
Jesus." 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

" Jesus can teach us to exercise our passive as 
well as our active graces." 

"If the footstool is so glorious, what must the 
throne be ? " 

" Trials only empty the heart, and thereby make 
way for further communications from above." 

" Strange that any one should let a little re- 
proach deprive them of an eternal crown." 

Whitefield defines "persecution" as "apostolic 
treatment." 

" 'In the world and not of it' is the real Chris- 
tian's motto." 

" It is hard to govern, much easier to obey." 

" The ram's horns must go round Jericho till 
her towering walls fall down." 

" Let Lots choose the plain ; God will be Abra- 
ham's shield and exceeding great reward." 

" A few more blows from friends and foes and 
the pitcher will be broken." 

"What a mystery of love is the mystery of 
godliness ! " 

" Fain would I burn with love and gratitude 
like a seraph." 



374 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



" I would vie with a seraph, if I could, in humility 
and thanksgiving." 

u I would fain die sword in hand." 

" Friends know what it is to exchange hearts.'' 

" We are called to be saints, not angels." 

" Sorrows grow less and joys grow greater by 
being communicated." 

" Suffering grace is always given for suffering 
times." 

" Every new scene brings its new temptations." 

" I would not lay * out a farthing but for my 
blessed Master." 

"Mr. Fleming used to say, 'Lord, grant me a 
divine manifestation, and O, teach me to manage it 
after thou hast granted it ! ' " 

" It is a blessed thing to keep alive in a dead 
time." 

" A catholic spirit is the plague of bigots." 

" It is Christ-like not to be given to change." 

" We are testing and contesting while the nation 
is bleeding to death." 

" I do not like to fish in troubled waters." 

" Works speak better than words." 

" Simplicity and godly sincerity will carry all 
before them in the end." 

" Christ never sends a person on a warfare at 
his own charges." 

" Happy trials that drive us to our knees ! " 

" Reformation not renovation." 

" Strong assertions will not go for proofs." 

<c Unbelief is the womb of misery and the grave 
*f comfort." 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



375 



" What a dreadful tiling it is to come cankered 
out of the furnace." 

" Some people need a bridle rather than a 
spur." 

" The world after the deluge was as bad as it 
was before." 

" The way, though narrow, is not long ; the gate, 
though strait, opens into life eternal." 

"Experience is only learned in the school of 
tribulation." 

" Christ is all, or he is worth nothing." 

" Seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, 
will always succeed each other here." 

" What avails throwing pearls before swine, 
who only turn again and rend you." 

" When God's people are distressed, if needful a 
thousand Esthers shall be raised up." 

" Isaacs must be sacrificed before they can be 
raised from the dead." 

"The burning bush must still be our coat of 
arms." 

" By thorns and briers the old man must be 
scratched to death. O this crucifixion work ! " 

" This life is a state of infinite importance, a 
point between two eternities." 

"Religion never thrives under too much sun- 
shine." 

" Reading is a good preparation for prayer, as 
prayer is an excellent means to render reading 
effectual." 

" An idle person tempts the devil to tempt 
him." 



y/6 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

" Some people are more afraid of pimples on 
their face than rottenness in their hearts." 

" The magicians turned their rods into serpents, 
but the rod of Jehovah swallowed them up." 

" If we hate reproof we are far from being true 
followers of the Lamb." 

" Ere long I hope to spend an eternal new year 
in the Jerusalem which is above." 

" Lord, prepare us for winter trials ; they are 
preparatives for an eternal summer." 

" Solitariness prepares for the social life, and the 
social life for solitariness again." 

M Repeated acts of kindness and love call for 
repeated acknowledgments." 

" Welcome storms that drive us to the blessed 
port." 

" Bunyan says, c If you are prayerless you are 
Christless.' " 

" The contradiction of saints is more trying than 
that of sinners." 



Whitefield's Anecdotes. 

As has already been stated, Whitefield had a 
remarkable talent for relating anecdotes with a pe- 
culiar zest and skill, every one of them having a 
point, and being well calculated to secure atten- 
tion. He seldom delivered a sermon not inter- 
spersed with them, and in this way he not only 
secured the attention of his auditors for the time 
being, but caused the anecdotes to be remembered, 
in connection with the application he gave them, 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 377 

long afterward. They differed widely in their na- 
ture, for he had a splendid variety always ready. 
Many of them were original; for Whitefield was 
a man who went through the world with his eyes 
open. Whitefield never " courted a grin when he 
should woo a soul," and yet there was a vein of 
spiritual wit running through him, a subdued and 
chastened humor that he occasionally indulged in 
when relating an anecdote, and sometimes " he 
touched the smiles that he might afterward draw 
the tears." The following are a few of the anec- 
dotes he at times related in order to illustrate his 
subjects. The number might be greatly multiplied ; 
these being given merely as specimens : 

THE TWO CHAPLAINS. 

"There was a certain nobleman who kept a 
deistical chaplain, and his lady a Christian one. 
When he was dying he said to his chaplain, 'I 
liked you very well when I was in health, but it is 
my lady's chaplain I must have when I am sick.' 
How true ' their rock is not as our rock, our ene- 
mies themselves being judges !' " 

THE BEGGAR AND THE MINISTER. 

Whitefield says : " I remember hearing a stoiy 
of a poor beggar who asked a clergyman to give 
him alms, and, being refused, he said, 'Sir, will 
you please give me your blessing ?' To which he 
replied, 'Yes;' the Lord bless you !' ' O,' replied the 
beggar, ' you would not have given me that if it 
had been worth any thing.' " 



378 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



THE JUDGE AND THE OLD SAINT. 

"In the time of persecution a judge, in the days 
of Charles II., said to a good old saint who was 
persecuted, ' I will banish you to America.' 'Very 
well,' said she; 'Judge, you cannot send me out 
of my Father's country.' " 

THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN. 

a The late Bishop of Lincoln said to his chap- 
lain, 'You are not to be a minister of Cicero, or 
any of the heathen philosophers. You are not to 
entertain your people with dry morality, but 
remember you are a minister of Christ. You are 
therefore to preach the Gospel ; and if you will 
not preach the Gospel in the church you must not 
be angry for the poor people going out into the 
fields where they can hear the Gospel ; that is to 
be your grand theme, ' Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the Gospel to every creature? " 

THE LORD MAYOR. 

" Sir Thomas Abney was very punctual in at- 
tending family prayer. He was elected Lord 
Mayor of London. Honors and office could not 
divert his mind from religion nor prevent him from 
doing his duty. Some one inquired how he kept 
up family prayer the night he was sworn in as 
Lord Mayor. He replied that he had entertained 
the company in his room, and, when the hour for 
evening devotion arrived, he told them he must 
leave them for a short time while he prayed with 
his family, which after having done, he returned 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 379 

to the company." We wonder not that White- 
field after relating this story said, " God grant we 
may have many such Lord Mayors ! " To which 
prayer»many a pious heart responds, Amen. 

BISHOP JEWELL. 

Whitefield says it was a proverb in the primi- 
tive Church that it becomes a Bishop to die 
preaching. He then relates the following : 
" Bishop Jewell, that blessed minister of the 
Church of England, on being asked by a gentleman 
who met his lordship going on foot to preach to a 
few people, why he, (the Bishop,) weak as he was, 
should thus expose himself, received the reply, i It 
becomes a Bishop to die preaching.' " The reader 
will not be surprised that Whitefield thus prays : 
" Lord, send all the world that they have Bishops 
such jewels as he was !" 

THE ITINERANT. 

4 4 The learned and pious Dr. Godwin says, 
'God had only one son, and he made a minister 
of him.' " Mr. Whitefield adds, "And he made an 
itinerant minister of him also." 

DOCTOR MANTON. 

Whitefield says, " Dr. Manton preached one day 
a sermon of rare beauty, and a woman said to him, 
4 O sir, you have made an excellent sermon to-day ; 
how I wish I had your heart !' ' Do you say so, 
good woman ? ' said the doctor ; 6 you had better not 
wish for it, for if you had it you would wish for 



38o 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



your own back again.' " Whitefield adds, " The 
best of men see themselves in the worst light." 

THE SCOTCH MINISTER. 

The following was related to Mr. Whitefield by 
one who witnessed it : " Mr. Wardrobe was 
dying in the arms of a friend, and when he was 
informed there was no hope for him he raised him- 
self up, and in a rapture of joy exclaimed, c Crowns ! 
crowns ! crowns of glory shall adorn this head of 
mine ere long ! ' rising higher he added, c Palms ! 
palms! palms ere long shall fill these hands of 
mine ! ' and thus triumphantly he passed over the 
river to join the conquerors before the throne." 

VICTORY. 

Mr. Whitefield speaks of a woman of great 
moral worth, whom he well knew, and whose 
funeral sermon he preached. " Her death-bed was 
one of triumph. She calmly bid adieu to her 
husband and children, and then exclaimed, 4 Now 
come; ye everlasting chariots.' The chariots of 
Israel and the horsemen thereof soon arrived ; she 
stepped in, and was soon conducted to the ever* 
lasting hills." 

PROFOUND INDIFFERENCE. 

Whitefield says a minister in Scotland related 
to him the following story, which he knew to be 
true : " A woman who was dying was asked by 
the minister, 4 Where do you hope to go when 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 381 

you die?' She answered, 'I don't care where I 
go.' ' What ? ' said he ; ' don't care whether you 
go to heaven or hell ? ' ' No,' said she, ' 1 don't 
care whither I go.' ' But,' said he, ' if you had 
your choice, where would you go ?' 'To hell,' she 
replied. ' Are you mad ? will you go to hell ? ' 
' Yes,' said she, ' I will.' ' Why so ? ' he asked. 
* Why,' said she, ' because all my relations are 
there.' The preacher in attending her funeral 
related this sad story, which produced quite a 
shuddering among the people." 

THE THREE CLERGYMEN. 

The following anecdote was related by White- 
field in a sermon on the duty of a Gospel minister : 

"Before I dismiss this subject, it may not be 
improper to tell a story related by a good man. 
There was a presbytery of ministers met together, 
and one of their number preached. In his sermon 
he made a supposition that the last judgment 
was come, and that Jesus Christ was now upon 
the throne of judgment, and calling his ministers 
to an account. He asked one of them, 'What did 
you preach for?' Says he, 'Lord, there was a 
patronage in the family of a hundred and fifty 
pounds a year ; I therefore took orders to get the 
presentation.' 'Stand thou by,' says he; 'verily 
thou hast thy reward.' He asks another, ' What 
did you preach for?' And he said, 'I preached 
that I might be reckoned a fine orator, and to 
have applause of men.' Says he, ' Stand thou by ; 
verily thou hast thy reward.' A third comes, and 



382 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

he said unto him, 'And what did you preach for?'" 
Says he, 'Lord, thou knowest my heart, that I did 
not seek to please men, and, though many infirmi- 
ties have passed in my ministry, I did it with an 
upright design to promote thy glory.' Jesus 
Christ immediately cries out, ' Make room, angels, 
for this my dear servant; thou hast honored me 
on earth, sit here by me on my throne.' O that 
this story may have the same effect on ministers 
now as it had when preached, for we hear they 
went away affected, and said they would preach 
Jesus Christ more than ever." 



Interview with one of Whitefield's Converts. 

We had the pleasure nearly forty years ago of 
becoming acquainted with an old lady, at that time 
nearly ninety years of age, residing in a village 
near Sharon, Conn., who had been converted under 
Whitefield's preaching when he was in Sharon, 
and who still retained the primitive fire which he 
had then kindled. She had always venerated the 
name of Whitefield, and she described to us with 
great fervor his person and his eloquence, saying 
that his followers were in those days called New 
Lights. Having prayed one moming at her house 
in a large kitchen, we were much surprised on 
closing to hear her commence praying, and such a 
prayer we never before nor afterward heard. She 
prayed as if she were used to wrestling with the 
Angel of the Covenant. She was at one end of the 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 383 

1 ooni when she began, with a kitchen chair before 
her, which she lifted up and put down at every 
petition ; and on saying Amen she was at the other 
end of the kitchen. Her husband was more old 
and feeble than she, and one summer night when 
we preached at her house the two lay down dur- 
ing the preaching. She kept wide awake, appar- 
ently much interested, but the old gentleman got 
drowsy, whereupon she awoke him several times, 
and inquired, "Did you hear that, daddy?" 
Again, " Did you hear that ? Wasn't that good ? " 
etc. She was the only convert of Whitefield's we 
ever saw, and she had more life and fire in her 
than some whole Churches. 



Whitefield and the Young Sail-maker. 

The crowds were so great the last time that 
Whitefield preached at Portsmouth, N. H., that 
he was obliged to enter the church through a 
window. 

Among others who were present to hear the 
great orator was a young man who had just 
passed his majority. His name was Benjamin 
Randall. Day after day, attracted by a power he 
could not resist, he made his way to the church, 
though, as he afterward stated, the power with 
which Whitefield spoke only served to exasperate 
and torment him. On Friday he heard Whitefield 
for the last time, and he wrote, " O how wonder- 
fully he spoke ! His soul inflamed with love, his 



384 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



heart with pity, his arms extended, and tears roll- 
ing from his eyes — with what power he spoke ! " 
But eloquence and tears were powerless to convert 
young Randall, the sail-maker. 

The Sunday following, as his Pastor was going 
to supply one of the pulpits at Portsmouth, Ran- 
dall resolved to accompany him, anxious about his 
soul's salvation, though still stubborn and unsub- 
missive, and doubtless expecting to find something 
of the influence of Whitefield hovering about the 
place where his own heart had been deeply im- 
pressed. About noon a stranger was seen riding 
along the main street, halting at the different cor- 
ners, and in a clear but subdued voice crying out, 
"Whitefield is dead! Whitefield is dead! He 
died at Newburyport this morning at six o'clock." 
An announcement so solemn and so sudden start- 
led the whole population, and it went like an 
arrow to the heart of young Randall. It was to 
him like the sound of the archangel's trump. 

Describing the scene of the mounted messenger 
as he rode through the street at Plymouth pro- 
claiming the sad news to the astonished multitude, 
and his own emotion on the occasion, Randall aft- 
erward wrote thus: "It was September 30, 1770 — 
that memorable day ! that blessed day to White- 
field ! that blessed day to me ! a voice sounded 
through my soul more loud and startling than ever 
thunder pealed upon my ears, c Whitefield is dead! 
Whitefield is now in heaven, but I am on the road 
to hell. He was a man of God, and yet I reviled 
him and spoke reproachfully of him. He taught 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 385 



me the way to heaven, but I regarded it not. O 
that I could hear his voice again ! But ah, never, 
no, never, shall I again hear it till in the judgment 
of the great day he shall appear as a swift witness 
against me.' " This led to the conversion of young 
Randall. Whitefield, though dead, spake to him 
in thunder-tones with trumpet tongue. He be- 
came a Congregation alist, then a Baptist, and after- 
ward a Baptist minister. He then originated a 
Free-will Baptist Church in New Durham, Mass., 
and became the founder of the Free-will Baptists. 
He had not a classical or theological education, 
but he had strong common sense, had a good li- 
brary, was a good student, and preached with 
great power and success. From his Church others 
of similar faith sprang up. It is now a large and 
respectable denomination. 

What insignificant causes are at times connected 
with the grandest and noblest results ! White- 
field's eloquence failed to convert young Randall, 
but he could not resist the voice of the strange 
horseman, exclaiming, " Whitefield is dead! White- 
field is dead!" To these simple words, thus 
uttered, may be traced the origin of the Free- 
will Baptist denomination, with its sixty thousand 
members, its over a thousand ministers, numerous 
church edifices, two colleges, one theological sem- 
inary, its academies, its religious weekly periodi- 
cals, its stately Quarterly Review, and its flourish- 
ing mission to India. " Behold how great a mat- 
ter a little fire kindleth ! " * 

* New York Observer. 
25 



386 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



The Old Man and Whitefield's Pulpit. 

A gentleman furnishes us with the following 
interesting account of an old man who had heard 
Whitefield in his boyhood, which is so life-like that 
we feel confident it will be read with delight : " I 
was spending a Sunday in old Ipswich, in Septem- 
ber, when by accident I fell in with an old inhabit- 
ant of the town who had heard Whitefield preach 
there. He was a sort of patriarch of the place, 
and, as he sat on one of the stones which sur- 
rounded the ancient orthodox meeting-house, his 
gray locks streaming from beneath his queerly 
shaped hat, and attired in his primly cut old-fash- 
ioned coat, he appeared no bad representative of 
the departed Puritans, who in former days had 
soberly and decently obeyed the call of the Sab- 
bath-bell, and worshiped in the same tern|)le 
whose steeple now casts its shadow athwart the 
green sward beneath. ... As the bell of the old 
Ipswich Church rang out that bright Sabbath 
morning, it was a pretty sight to see the village 
people from different points going to the decaying 
old church, which was situated, as are most country 
churches in New England, on a hill-top. While I 
was enjoying the scene, the old man to whom I 
have alluded, and who was sitting on a stone, ac- 
costed me, and asked me if I were not a stranger 
in those parts. On my informing him that I was, 
he pointed out to me the " lions " of the neighbor- 
hood, and wound up by asking, ' I suppose, sir, 
you've heard of Whitefield ? ' 'Of Whitefield ? to 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 387 



be sure I have.' 'Well, I've seen Whitefield. 
George Whitefield stood on this very stone, [drop 
ping his stick feebly from his shaking hands,] and 
I heard him preach here.' ' And do you remember 
any thing about him ? ' I asked. 4 Well, I guess I 
do. I was but a bit of a boy then ; but here he 
stood on this stone, looking like a flying angel, 
and we call it Whitefield's pulpit to this day. . . * 
There were folks here from all parts to hear him, so 
he was obliged to preach outside ; for the church 
wasn't half big enough for 'em, and no two ways 
about it. I've heard many parsons since that time, 
but none on 'em could come nigh him any how 
they could fix it.' { Do you remember any thing 
of his sermon ? ' I inquired. 6 O, I was too young 
to notice aught, sir, but the preacher hisself and 
the crowds of people, but I know he had a very 
sweet voice, and, as I said, when he spread his arms 
out, with a little Bible in his hand, he looked like 
a flying angel. There never were so many people 
afore, nor since, in old Ipswich. I suppose, sir, 
you'll be going to see his bones ? He was buried 
at Newburyport, and you can see 'em if you like.' " 



Whitefield's Bone. 

Much has been said and much written concern- 
ing a bone of Whitefield that was carried to 
England. The British Standard in 1864 was hor- 
ror-struck at the idea. Mr. Philip says : " It will 
surprise and grieve not a few on both sides of the 



388 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



Atlantic when I tell them the bones of Whitefield 
are not entire. Part of his right arm was sent to 
this country. I hope it is not here still. If I 
thought it were not returned I should feel inclined 
to tell the American embassador where to find it, 
and urge him to demand it in the name of his 
country. About two years ago a visitor in Lon- 
don invited me to see a curiosity, feeling sure to 
gratify me. He mistook my taste. I went, and 
he placed on the table a long, narrow box, defying 
me to guess the contents. I said, c It contains the 
right arm of George Whitefield, and I could name 
the thief and the receiver.' ... I owe it to my 
friend to add, if the relic be still in England, that 
it could not be in better hands. Still, I would if I 
could, give c commandment concerning his bones ' 
as solemnly and authoritatively as the dying Jo- 
seph."* The sequel is this: Mr. Bolton, an En- 
glishman, was a great admirer of Whitefield, and 
a collector of curiosities. A friend of his being 
about to visit Newbnryport, Mass., where White- 
field was buried, Mr. Bolton requested him, if pos- 
sible, to obtain some small memento of the great 
preacher to add to his collection. Some time after- 
ward he received a parcel, which on opening he 
found, to his horror, to contain the main bone of the 
right arm of Mr. Whitefield, obtained from the 
vault in which he was buried. Deeming it a most 
sacrilegious act, and utterly repugnant to his feel- 
ings, Mr. Bolton determined to carefully preserve 
the bone till he could with certainty restore it tc 
* Philip's "Life and Times of Whitefield," p. 519. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 389 

its proper place. He accordingly, in 1837, sent it 
to the Rev. Dr. Stearns, then Pastor of the Church 
in Newburyport. Its return created great interest ; 
a procession of two thousand people followed it to 
the grave, and it was restored to its original posi- 
tion.* At the hundredth anniversary of his death, 
leaning over his coffin, we asked the colored sex- 
ton if that was the bone concerning which there 
had been so much noise. He answered, " The very 
bone, s/r." 

His remains are now well guarded. None see 
them unless in the presence of the old colored sex- 
ton, who carefully watches every visitor who enters 
that vault. 

Dr. Stevens, the gifted historian of Methodism, 
suggests that the remains of Whitefield be sur- 
rendered to his transatlantic brethren ; but they 
had better remain where they are. He belonged 
to this country equally with the old, and he loved 
" dear America " and " dear New England." He 
is buried in the very place where he himself desired 
to be in case he died in America. And while 
John Wesley lies buried in City Road, London, 
Charles Wesley in another cemetery in the same 
city, and Dr. Coke in the Indian Ocean, where 
he has the sea-weed for a winding-sheet and coral 
rock for a tombstone, let the bones of Whitefield 
remain in Newburyport until shall come that il- 
lustrious morn when the Resurrection and the 
Life shall say to him, Come forth ; and in a 
* New York Observer. 



390 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



moment, in the twinkling of an eye, he shall be 
changed from age to youth, from mortal to im- 
mortal, and be caught up to meet the Lord in the 
air, and " so be ever with the Lord." 

" Forever with, the Lord 1 

Amen, so let it be ! 
Life from the dead is in that word, 

'Tis immortality.' * 



CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION 

OF THE DEATH OF 

REV. GEOEGE WHITEFIELD, 

AT THE OLD PRESBYTERIAN SOUTH CHURCH, 

NEWBURYPORT, MASS., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1870. 



"When by a good man's grave I muse alone, 

Methinks an angel sits upon the stone — 

Like those of old, on that thrice-hallowed night, 

Who sat and watched in raiment heavenly bright — 

And, with a voice inspiring joy, not fear, 

Says (pointing upward) that ' he is not here ' — 

That 'he is risen! ' " 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



On Friday, September30,-1870, just one hundred 
years after the death of the great preacher, the 
writer of this sketch gratified a long and earnest 
desire which he had had, of visiting the old time- 
honored church under whose pulpit lies all that is 
now left to us of the great Whitefield. It proved 
one of the most interesting days of my whole 
life. The church edifice was to me a curiosity, for 
it has a wonderful history. It originated with 
Whitefield. Within it his graceful form had often 
been seen, under its roof his ringing voice had 
often been heard, and under its pulpit his remains 
were then sleeping. 

The church edifice was built in 1756, but was 
greatly improved and rededicated in 1856, at 
which time the following poem was sung : 

"A hundred rolling years have fled 
Since the true-hearted, honored dead 
This temple reared, where they might meet 
To sit and learn at Jesus' feet. 

" His * voice inspiring urged them on, 
"Whose name is graved on yonder stone ; 
His stirring voice is hushed — and here 
He sweetly sleeps, till Christ appear." 



* Alluding to Whitefield. 



^94 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



This Church has had a noble succession of min- 
isters, beginning with Parsons, who was their first 
Pastor, and who went there at the suggestion of 
Whitefield. It has been a fruitful Church, thirty- 
four Christian ministers having sprung from it, 
among others Bishop Thomas M. Clark, D.D., of 
Rhode Island, and his gifted brother, Rufus W. 
Clark, D.D. The memorial services of September 
30, 1870, under the direction of the youthful but 
amiable Pastor, Rev. C. S. Durfee, were very im- 
pressive indeed, and well worthy the occasion. In 
the morning, after the preliminary exercises, Rev. 
J. F. Stearns, of Newark, N. J., former Pastor of 
the Church, delivered the commemorative discourse. 
It was appropriate and eloquent. He gave us a 
sketch of Whitefield and his brilliant career, and 
showed the influence he had exerted, and was still 
exerting on the various Churches, and throughout 
the world — that * though being dead he yet speak- 
eth." The afternoon exercises were full of interest. 
Rev. G. W. Blagden, D.D., of Boston, presided, 
and made the opening address. Prayer was then 
offered by the w T riter of this sketch. An address 
full of eloquence and pathos was then delivered 
by Rev. Ashbel G. Vermilye, D.D., of Utica. He 
had formerly been Pastor of the Church, and his 
address was full of reminiscences of the past, inter- 
spersed with original anecdotes of Whitefield. 
Then followed Rev. Rufus W. Clark, D.D., of Al- 
bany. His father had been a member of that 
Church, and he had been baptized there. His ad- 
dress was pathetic, eloquent, and catholic. 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 395 



Rev. George Hare, D.D., then spoke, dwelling 
©n Whitefield's ordination vows, his entire devot- 
edness to the work of saving souls, and the 
Divine baptism, the holy anointing, that rested 
upon, him that rendered him so successful, and also 
his relation to Methodism. Rev. Alexander King, 
of London, England, made the final address, which 
was full of deep and thrilling interest. So two 
hemispheres united in the memorial service to the 
greatest of pulpit orators. The choir then sang : 

" Servant of God, well done ; 
Rest from thy loved employ; 
The battle's fought, the victory won, 
Enter thy Master's joy." 

This closed the centenary exercises at the old 
South Church, Newbury port. 



Relics of WhitefieldL 

During my stay in the town I had the pleasure of 
gazing with veneration upon many relics of the past. 

The Old Bible. — This old Bible was one out of 
which Mr. Whitefield used to read his texts. It is 
still used in the pulpit. 

The Ring. — Another was a ring that Mr. White- 
field had on his finger when he died. I placed it 
upon my finger, and thought of the rings which 
he in his will had left to John and Charles Wesley 
" in token of his indissoluble union with them." 

The Medal. — A silver medal was shown me 
which had been struck off soon after Whitefield's 



396 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 

death. On one side of it is the name, George 
Whitefield, with a likeness of him. On the reverse 
the legend, u An Israelite indeed." A good sol- 
dier of Jesus Christ. Died September 30, 1770, in 
the fifty- sixth year of his age. 
" The Old Chair. — Then there was the old chair 
in which Whitefield sat when he died, one hun- 
dred years ago that morning. What interest 
clusters around that old-fashioned high-backed 
chair. As I sat in it my mind involuntarily went 
back to the hall of the parsonage, and the dying 
scene passed before me. Here sat the pale, dying 
saint, gasping for breath till his throbbing temples 
beat their last, and then were forever still. Around 
this chair angels hovered, waiting the struggling 
of his great soul, anxious to be freed from its 
earthly prison-house, who, on hearing the cry, u He 
is dead," responded, "A child is born," and on 
their golden pinions they escorted him to the 
skies. From this chair he ascended to a throne. 
One moment seated here, the next with Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God. 



WhitefielcTs Last Resting-place. 

As has already been stated, Mr. Whitefield re- 
quested that, should he die in America, he might 
be buried under the pulpit of the "Old South 
Church." There were those who wished to have 
him buried in Boston ; others desired to have his 
remains removed to England; but he could rest 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 397 



in no more fitting place than where he now lies. 
The Old South Church is the custodian of his 
remains, and there let them rest until the multitude 
of sleepers awake at the sound of the trump, and 
rise to life immortal ! 

Mr. Whitefield was buried in his gown, cassock, 
bands, and wig. 'Tis singular that his remains 
should have been preserved so long from decay. 
As late as 1784 they were but little impaired. 

Rev. Jesse Lee, the apostle of Methodism in 
New England, after having visited his tomb, says, 
" I went into the vault to see the body after it had 
lain there twenty years, and was greatly surprised 
to find the greater part of it firm and hard. A 
small part of it only had putrified." 

With feelings of solemn awe I descended into 
the place where there were three coffins — one con- 
taining the remains of Rev. Mr. Parsons, the other 
of Rev. Mr. Prince, and the middle one those of 
George Whitefield. The most that is left of him is 
the skull and bones, the other parts having crumbled 
to dust. While gazing with devout awe upon his 
coffin the thought came to me, I am standing be- 
side the remains of the great revivalist, the friend 
of the Wesley s, the great pulpit orator of the world, 
the great evangelist of the Church. Seldom have 
I had such emotions as when my hand rested on 
Whitefield's skull. What mighty plans of useful- 
ness had originated in the brain that skull had once 
contained ! What sermons it had given birth to ! 
Whole volumes of history passed through my mind 
in a few moments. 



398 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators, 



No wonder William B. Tappan, who visited thi3 
place in 1837, wrote thus : 

" Aud this was TVbitefield ! this the dust now blending 
With kindred dust, that wrapt his soul of fire, 

"Which, from the mantle freed, is still ascending 
Through regions of far glory, holier, higher. 

0, as I gaze here with a solemn joy 

And awful rev'rence, in which shares Decay, 
Who, this fair frame reluctant to destroy, 

Yields it not yet to doom which all obey — 
How follows thought his flight, at Love's command, 

From hemisphere in sin to hemisphere ; 

"Warning uncounted multitudes with tears — 
Preaching the risen Christ on sea and land: 
And now those angel journeyings above ! 
Souls, his companions, saved by such unwearied love ! " 

Never can I forget that vault, that coffin, those 
remains, nor the time when I stood there with the 
colored sexton, holding his lighted candle so that 
I could see the remains of the Prince of Pulpit 
Orators. It was a hallowed place, a hallowed 
hour, never to be forgotten. 



The Cenotaph. 

There is on the right side of the pulpit a beauti- 
ful cenotaph that I as well as others looked upon 
with admiration. This cenotaph has a peculiar 
history. Rev. Dr. Proudfit, a former Pastor of 
the Church, said at the centenary anniversary in 
1856, " As my eye rests on that monument let me 
recall the way in which it came there. I called 



The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 399 



one evening on Mr. Bartlett. He told me he had 
heard Whitefield when he was a boy, and had 
never forgotten the impression made upon him by 
his preaching. He expressed a desire to have a 
suitable monument erected to his memory in this 
church. He asked if I would look after the mat- 
ter, and employ an eminent artist to do the work. 
I inquired how much he was willing it should cost. 
' On that point,' he replied, 'I leave you entirely 
at liberty. Let it be something worthy of a great 
and good man.' That monument, designed by 
Strickland and executed by Strothers, is the result. 
I used the liberty he gave me moderately. Had it 
cost ten times as much he would, no doubt, have 
paid it cheerfully. When the artist presented the 
demand Mr. Bartlett gave him one hundred dollars 
above the amount. When I was in England the 
congregations of Tottenham Court and the Taber- 
nacle intimated a desire to have his remains re- 
moved to England ; but when I told them what 
Mr. Bartlett had done, they said that if any Amer- 
ican gentleman was willing to give three hundred 
pounds to do honor to Whitefield' s memory, Ameri- 
ca was well entitled to his remains." * It seems per- 
fectly fitting that one who had heard Whitefield 
preach, and been benefited by his ministrations, 
should erect his monument. Mr. Bartlett did no- 
bly, for in erecting one for Whitefield he built one 
for himself. In perpetuating the name of White- 
field he also perpetuated his own. 

*Dr. Proudfit's address at the one hundredth anniversary 
of the building of the church. 



400 The Prince of Pulpit Orators. 



The cenotaph is a plain, tasteful, permanent 
structure, surmounted by a symbol of immortality, 
a flame burning from an uncovered urn. 

The following inscription I transcribed from it 
was written by Dr. Ebenezer Porter, of Andover : 



REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD, 
born at Gloucester, Eng., Dec'r 16, 1714: 
educated at Oxford University : ordained 1736. 
In a ministry of thirty-four years he crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, 
and preached more than eighteen thousand sermons. As a soldier of 
the cross, humble, devout, ardent; he put on the whole armor of 
God, preferring the honors of Christ to his own interest re- 
pose, reputation, or life. As a Christian orator, his deep 
piety, disinterested zeal, and vivid imagination, gave 
unexampled energy to his look, action, and utter- 
ance. Bold, fervent, pungent, and popular in 
his eloquence, no other uninspired man 
«ver preached to so large assemblies, 
or enforced the simple truths of 



the Gospel by motives so per- 
suasive and awful, and 
with an influence so 
powerful on the 
hearts of his 
hearers. 

He died of asthma, Sept. 30, 1770 ; 



suddenly exchanging his life of unparalleled labors for his eternal rest 



" A century has passed since the light in that 
golden candlestick ceased to burn and shine ; but 
the voice of the immortal Whitefield still speaks, 
and its language, like the motto on his seal, is 
'Astra petamuSy c Let us seek heaven.' " 



THIS CENOTAPH 
is erected, with affectionate veneration, 
to the memory of the 



THE END. 





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